


Just swing by on the way down

by dobe_san



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Comfort, Drama, Eventual Romance, Friendship/Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, can spiderman shoot web from his wrists, did you know spiders shoot web from their butts, gaara is in vet school, hes also allergic to bananas, hopefully not allergic to spiders, kakashi is still a teacher, sasukes in a band, some crime busting, spoilder alert: snakes cant beat spiders, warning: creepy old snakes, warning: hints of drug smuggling and gang related trafficking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-17 23:17:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21701341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dobe_san/pseuds/dobe_san
Summary: “So... you’re Spiderman.”Naruto laughs nervously, “No? Nope. What’s a Spiderman?” He tries avoiding all eye contact with Sasuke but fails. The latter doesnotlook amused at all.“...Naruto, I literally saw you stuck to the wall of our building on the 10th floor.”Or: Naruto is Spiderman and Sasuke, his university course mate who also lives in the same building, accidentally finds out.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 147
Kudos: 462





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. I don’t know much about the Spiderman comic universe, sony universe or MCU. I am basing this off my limited knowledge of old Tobey Maguire movies and what I think Spiderman is capable of. So please don’t expect this fic to be anything similar to those, especially not the Peter Parker in those universes. 
> 
> 2\. It’s really hard to show every aspect of Naruto’s and Sasuke’s life (crime fighting, university, part time job, gigs and all) because it I did this fic would be 200k long and no, I have no patience for that. You may catch snippets of them in the future though! 
> 
> 3\. This is an indulgent fic that probably will not make much sense to anyone other than myself. Greatly inspired by the fan art by Artist: 잉어 (@polaris599) who drew a Naruto + Spiderman crossover (GO GOOGLE IT). I took the liberty to make up lots of things, including the science behind being a webbed superhero, the concept of time, university life, cute boys snuggling, and so on. I don’t even know what country this thing is even in. Please forgive me. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. 
> 
> 4\. Warning: switching POVs and unbetad. Likely not doing an abomination this long again.

_NEWS FLASH: Friendly neighbourhood superhero_ swings _by for supper after dropping snatch thief at the_ _police station._ Sasuke raises an eyebrow at last night’s news on Twitter as he shoves another spoonful of cheerios into his mouth. He taps the screen twice to zoom into the photo – Spiderman holding a cheeseburger in one hand and a thumbs up with the other. Sasuke releases a sound between a scoff and a snort. The suit – spandex? – looks too glossy, too uncomfortable, too _tight_.

Milk drips down his chin onto his shirt. Sasuke curses under his breath and scrambles to grab a tissue. Staring down at the spreading stain on his white shirt, Sasuke debates changing into another shirt. After deliberating for a few seconds, the need to upkeep his image wins, and he finds himself gulping down the remainder of breakfast before heading to his room. 

Once back at the table, he taps out of the Spiderman photo and scrolls through more recent entries on Twitter. An article on @TheCrimeReport, a few cat videos and a silly meme later, he quits the app to check the group chat. No messages yet.

Sasuke knows the girls are usually up early, but isn’t sure if Naruto is up. The blond has been tardy as of late, always turning up midway through group discussions looking as though he’d ran through a hurricane. Being the kind soul that he is, Sasuke will knock on Naruto’s door on his way down. They live in the same student accommodation building after all.

Sasuke puts his empty bowl in the sink, then grabs his phone and things. Suigetsu’s shoes are littered all over the floor. He would have helped arrange them, except his housemate is prickly about his Yeezys or whatever. So instead, Sasuke nudges them to the side to pick up his own sneakers. He slips them on, checks his hair in the mirror near the door, and finally leaves the apartment. 

X0X0X0X

“Shit, shit, shit!”

Naruto is currently the classic image of an anime girl – toast in his mouth, trying to put one foot into his black high cut converse, all while keeping his balance before he reaches for the other shoe. Not even bothering to do up his laces, Naruto runs towards the window next to his desk. Holding the sliding window up, he chucks the wooden block that holds it open back into the room where it lands somewhere with a thud, and jumps onto the shallow balcony meant for potted plants. The self-locking window shuts loudly just as gentle knocks sound on his door. Too late to answer that, he thinks.

The Friday morning air is a tad chilly, but just so. Not rare for an autumn morning. But Naruto pays no attention to any of it. He looks around furtively for a second as he swallows the last of his toast. Deciding to play it safe, he pulls up the hood of his jacket, then leaps over the railing and all the way down.

From the 5th floor.

And that’s okay for him. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. No broken limbs or fractured skull, nope. Why?

Because he’s Spiderman.

Yep, your friendly neighbourhood Spiderman.

Spiderman who spent the entire night fighting crime and now he’s late for his meeting.

Yes, crime fighting is hard. It’s _very_ hard, and tiring and everything that is not fun.

But well, Iruka always says, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

So Naruto is trying his best to be responsible by getting on his bicycle parked in the side alley and cycling towards the other side of campus where the main library is, because he promised Sakura to grab the reference book they need for their meeting (punishment for being late the last time).

While navigating the shortcut out of campus gate one and meandering through the retirement village near the edge of the gate, his Spidey senses tingle in the parts just behind his neck – a bit like feeling goosebumps – and then he hears a weak shout.

“Help! He’s got my purse!”

Naruto rolls his eyes with a groan. Sakura is going to _kill_ him for being late again. 

Naruto cycles through the streets towards the voice, checking to make sure nobody is around as he enters another small alley. He pushes his bicycle aside all while leaping off the seat, making a sprint to the end of the alley, quickly sends a sorry text to the group chat and unzips his hoodie with his free hand all at the same time.

This is not his first rodeo, so by the time Naruto gets to the metal fence at the back, he’s already in suit and mask, bag and sneakers chucked in a safe corner.

“Help! Somebody!”

Naruto scales the side of the ten storey building with ease, moving up and up on all fours. He runs across the roof following the voice, which sounds frail now that he’s closer, probably an old lady. He stops for a second, tingling senses directing him to turn his head to the left. He quickly scans the area and finally sees further ahead what looks like a sprinting figure clad in a black beanie. Behind him, the old granny’s weak attempts at chasing.

Anger flares up in his chest, because anyone who targets frail old ladies are worse than scum. Naruto steps into a jog again, keeping his eyes trained on said scumbag who is now turning the corner two shorter buildings away.

Then, at the edge of the roof before the next, Naruto jumps.

This time, he’s shooting his web before he drops mid building. The long thread landing on the opposite wall pulls him into a momentum and soon, he’s swinging like a pendulum. Other arm up, he shoots and swings again, and again, gaining distance faster than the guy can run.

Just as he catches up, Naruto takes careful aim with his wrist, well, as careful as he can while swinging on one arm, and 3, 2, 1-

The guy tumbles into a sticky mess of tangled limbs.

“Yes!” Naruto pumps his fist into the air, a triumphant grin painting his face.

And the rest is history.

X0X0X0X

Sasuke hates the project room in the small faculty library. It smells mouldy like wet carpet, air stale and it’s way too enclosed despite having transparent glass walls. He’s spent more than enough time in here last year doing assignments and projects. People say that psychology student life gets better in the second year of university, what with more lab and less projects. 

Well, they lied.

Because here he is again, listening to Karin and Sakura bicker over the presentation slides.

By the time they start squabbling over some font or template, Sasuke tunes them out. He internally resists giving himself a face-palm, knowing the girls will give him shit for it, and decides to take a sip of water from his bottle instead.

As he drinks, he sees from the corner of his eye a hurried figure entering the main sliding doors of the library.

Sasuke watches as Naruto navigates his way through the crowds, orange back pack hanging half-open on one shoulder. His blond hair is sticking up in weird places, and he bumps into a girl who glares at him. Naruto mumbles what appears to be an apology and scratches his neck in embarrassment.

Sasuke wonders what’s up with the dishevelled look that’s been too common as of late, and if Naruto simply overslept again because he did not answer the door earlier when Sasuke tried knocking. 

Naruto pushes the door of the meeting room open, sheepish expression saying it all.

“Sorry guys, I-”

“You’re late again!” Karin and Sakura yell together, agreeing on something for once.

Naruto drops down into the seat opposite Sasuke with all the weight of the world. Usually Sasuke would chime in, poke a little fun or show his annoyance at Naruto’s tardiness, but doesn’t Naruto’s eye circles look even darker than usual? Sasuke wonders, along with the question if the blond even realises that he had worn his shirt back to front, inside out, tag peeking above the hoodie drawstring.

“Yeah, yeah, I said I’m sorry, jeez.” Naruto drags his palm down his face. His defeated look lasts only a second, before it’s quickly replaced by a look of realisation. In his eagerness to get the textbook out he accidentally slams it onto the table, making everyone wince at the echo within the glass walls.

“At least I got this?”

Sakura rolls her eyes.

“If we had gotten it an hour earlier we could have-”

“At least he texted us, Sakura.” Sasuke decides to put an end to her complaint. He then addresses Naruto directly, “Well we already got started. Let’s see what we can do to split the work.” Thankfully, Sakura knows when to take a cue, and starts delegating the tasks.

Naruto gives Sasuke a tired half smile then mouths a grateful ‘thanks’. Sasuke shrugs and mimes for him to start taking notes before Sakura starts berating again.

And if Naruto’s immediate scramble for a pen and paper gives Sasuke a snort of amusement, he tries his best not to show it.

X0X0X0X

They are on their way back to their accommodation building after the meeting ended at 3pm. Naruto is pushing his bicycle along as Sasuke walks with him.

“Hey, thanks for standing up for me earlier,” Naruto says, “Sakura can be so mean sometimes.”

“It’s no big deal.” Sasuke shrugs it off. “It’s true that you’ve been late to all our meetings recently. You used to be one who got us the room earlier this year.”

Naruto sighs loudly, sagging a little, but he remains silent. Which is odd. For Naruto, that is.

“Well, what’s been keeping you busy lately?” Sasuke continues, curious.

“O-Oh, well. It’s nothing. Just busy with my part time job and all. You know the one at-”

“-the pizza place? Yeah. What, have they been making you do double shifts? Are you in need of money?”

Naruto waves him off, then suddenly gives him a lopsided smile.

“Why, are you offering?”

Sasuke shrugs again.

“Just wondering. I don’t have much to give anyway.” He has just enough from his occasional band gigs to feed himself and then some. But if a friend ever needs something, even he is nice enough to find ways to help.

“Yeah I know, I know. I’m just joking. It’s fine.”

“If you say so.” And there’s the end of this conversation. Sasuke doesn’t feel like they’re close enough for him to find out anything more, so if Naruto draws the line, he’ll stamp down on his curiosity.

And when Naruto tells him that he’s skipping the student block party that evening, the one that Sakura was going on about earlier, Sasuke isn’t sure if it’s his place to ask why, since Sasuke himself has a gig elsewhere later and will not be joining anyway.

X0X0X0X

It’s only a few days, two insanely long delivery shifts for Pepe Pizza, and several nights of spidey crime fighting later, while churning some research for their project in his room at 4:30am, that Naruto recalls his last conversation with Sasuke.

Since starting university, he has always noticed Sasuke around campus (yeah, who is he kidding, have you seen Sasuke’s face? He’s _pretty_ hard to miss, ha ha, get it? Pretty?). The guy is also really smart, like, he got some top student academic award last year. Naruto hears on the grapevine that Sasuke’s on some scholarship, and also in a band of some sort. Which is so cool. But their paths never crossed, not until this year anyway.

Naruto really only started speaking to Sasuke during this second year of university after they got put in the same tutorial group last semester and this. They’re both majoring in psychology, which explains their current assignment on child psychology and Piaget and all that jazz. And it is definitely a nice coincidence that Naruto moved into the vacant studio apartment in the same building as Sasuke’s place earlier this year.

Naruto leans back into his chair and spins for a break from his laptop. Even though they have had several meetings this year, and more than a few conversations, he’s never really got to know Sasuke that well. Naruto feels like Sasuke will always belong to the category of people he is intrigued by and admires from afar, together with other enigmatic creatures like Juugo from the gym who can possibly bench press a horse but can also carry a kitty with the same tenderness of holding a baby, and probably Kakashi, his crazy science teacher from high school who actually volunteered to make his suit for him after finding out he’s Spiderman a few months ago (that’s another story for another time).

Speaking of his Spiderman escapades, Naruto sighs. In the blur of spinning in his chair, he notices the red and blue suit hanging out of his bag. It has been almost four months since he got turned (…yes, turned, like a vampire, since he, too, was bitten, but instead by a radioactive spider) into this web-slinging, spandex-wearing superhero. He’s way over the disastrous period when his fingers stuck onto everything he held, and he has long since figured out his powers for good.

Still, it is exhausting. Sometimes, he swings around for hours and he gets nothing. Other times, like earlier today, he went to the gym with Kiba and Gaara, then finished his shift at Pepe Pizza at 9pm, then immediately stopped a carjacking two blocks away. Not long after, he went on to save someone’s cat from a tree, and then got to the other side of the city to stop a break in at a store selling branded watches.

All this, just to come back to his studio apartment to finish up the work that is due for their meeting later that morning.

“Ugh…!” Naruto groans. He presses the heels of his palms into his eyes and prays hard for the mess of research papers on his desk to disappear.

Now, what he _really_ needs a break.

Naruto slams both hands on the desk and stands up with a plan (but stays there until his head stops spinning). The night has been cool lately with mid-autumn approaching, so yes, some fresh air will be nice.

The self-locking window is already held open by the trusty wooden block, but the air is barely entering the place. Naruto fogs the glass a little with his breath when he stands close to it, but he pulls it up anyway. The strong draft refreshes him for nice long second, enough for him to think what an ingenious idea this is.

That is, until his research papers starts flying off the desk and out of the window. Like beautiful circling leaves in the autumn wind, except these are important papers he needs to finish his research and he can’t afford for them to fly away like that.

“Oh, SHIT!”

Panicking, Naruto slams the window all the way up in its sliding bracket just shy of shattering the damn thing, but forgets entirely about the block that is holding it open. In his haste, he accidentally kicks it into the tiny balcony when he jumps and balances on the sill. Holding the window open with his shoulder, he starts shooting lines after lines of web, snatching each loose piece of paper from the night sky. Until he gets every single one.

Including the last one that is flying just a little too far away such that he actually has to step in the balcony to grab it and-

“YES!” and then a loud SNAP.

The window has closed on itself. 

“FUCK!” Naruto shrieks into the night and then slams the bundle of sticky papers on his own mouth for being too loud.

Too loud and stupid for locking himself out on the balcony after pulling a Spiderman stunt like that.

He ducks down into the tiny space that barely fits Kiba’s dog, let alone a grown ass boy like him, and looks around carefully. Okay, nobody has their light on. He twists his body to check the other building behind him. Okay, no lights either.

_That’s fine. It’s fine. Nobody is awake._

He puts on the hood of his orange jacket and prays as he looks down on the streets.

_It’s four fucking am on a Friday morning. Nobody should be awake._

Nobody except a group of giggling girls walking down the street to crash at someone’s place after a night of partying, god damn it. Who parties on Thursday nights?!

Eager to get out of there, Naruto webs the stupid papers that got him into the mess in the first place onto the balcony. He plants his hands and feet on the red brick wall and crawls out of his hiding place as discretely as he can. He scuttles up a few floors then sideways towards the other wall where the fire escape is to get back into the building, and he’s really in a bit of a rush, so he forgets to check that alley side until he turns the corner...

…only to see Sasuke sticking his head out of his window and staring right at Naruto with his jaws dropped.

If circumstances were different, Naruto would have taken a photo because that’s the dumbest look he’s seen on Sasuke. Ever.

Except, scaling walls like a spider in the wee hours is a perfectly reasonable excuse for Sasuke to look so stupid.

Naruto swallows awkwardly, praying that sweaty palms will not make him fall ten floors down.

“Um, hi? I can…explain?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :O
> 
> comments are greatly appreciated x


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto is now in Sasuke’s room. The layout is pretty similar to his own place, only smaller because there’s no kitchen. It doesn’t look like it’s a studio apartment. He wonders if the kitchen is outside the room?

Anyway, it is his first time in here. It smells a lot like fresh flowers and dewy grassy fields, not muddy but some sort of fragrance, maybe like warm laundry. The room looks nice and neat – files in place, CDs and bags tucked neatly on shelves – he would have asked Sasuke to show him around the place, if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s close to pissing his pants.

Now that the shock has worn off, Sasuke sits on the bed, arms crossed feet down, neat eyebrow raised at Naruto who is on the floor trying to look at anywhere but into those obsidian, questioning eyes.

“So…you’re Spiderman.”

Naruto laughs nervously.

“No? Nope. What’s a Spiderman?” He tries avoiding all eye contact with Sasuke but fails. The latter does _not_ look amused at all.

“...Naruto, I literally saw you stuck to the wall of our building on the 10th floor. And you crawled into my window for fuck’s sake!”

“No! I just put my fingers in super glue and they haven’t dried and-”

Sasuke yanks Naruto forward with unexpected strength. The sleeve of his hoodie gets pushed up unceremoniously to reveal a piece of web dangling from his wrist.

“So, glue is coming out from your veins now?”

“…oops?”

Well, there’s no point hiding it now, right?

Naruto deflates.

“Ugh, okay, okay. Fine, _yes,_ I’m _Spiderman._ ” He pulls his arm back, sleeve down and all, and falls back onto his butt. “There, you found out. Congratulations. Well done. A round of applause.” He hugs his knees to his chin, not wanting to see the other’s reaction to the confirmation.

Sasuke doesn’t speak for a while. The silence gets to Naruto so much that he peeks up from beneath his fringe, only to see Sasuke in the same spot still squinting at Naruto. Top to bottom, and bottom up again. It’s a little disconcerting.

“Um…” Naruto shifts under his gaze, “can you, like, stop staring? I feel super exposed without my mask on.”

Sasuke still doesn’t speak. Moments later, the guy tilts his head, obviously wondering about something else in that big brain of his. But he still doesn’t say anything.

“Um, if you’re just gonna keep staring I’m just gonna go hide in my room-”

“Is that why you’ve been so tired? Spiderman does all his crime fighting at night doesn’t he?”

“Yeah, I guess?” Naruto shrugs, “Sometimes bad stuff happens in the day too, just less often.”

“Was that why you were so late last week? And why you didn’t go to the block party Sakura asked you to?”

“Yeah, a granny had her wallet snatched. She lives in the retirement village just outside campus.” Naruto scratches his neck, “And yeah, I usually do the crime busting stuff at night.”

Seeing the weird look on Sasuke’s face, Naruto begins to worry a little more. It shows in the restless shaking of his leg, thumb nails poking the flesh under his other fingernails.

“Look, nobody knows it’s me,” he adds nervously, “Well, pretty much nobody except my dad and my high school teacher. It’ll mean a great deal if you didn’t tell-”

Sasuke suddenly stands up. Shocked, Naruto moves out of the way to let Sasuke draw his room’s curtain. When the other turns around, he looks right at Naruto and says,

“Everyone has their secrets, right?” 

Naruto stares, a little stunned, and then nods hesitantly.

Sasuke heads back towards his bed but this time, he decides to sit on the floor in front of Naruto. He acts like it’s not a big deal, like he’s not making a promise, but Naruto can tell in the lowering of his voice.

“I won’t tell anyone, okay?”

After staring for a long moment, Naruto nods again, lips pulling into a genuine smile. He believes Sasuke.

“Yeah, okay. Thanks a lot.” He says, relieved. He surveys Sasuke’s room properly this time, feeling more settled after that assurance, “You know, I’ve never been in here before.”

“Yeah, welcome to my room. Suigetsu is still sleeping next door so, yeah.”

_Must be his housemate_ , Naruto thinks. So probably not a studio apartment if it has two people living in it.

“What are you doing up, anyway?” Naruto continues out loud, “I know you’re an early bird but isn’t this way too early? ”

Sasuke points to his laptop.

“Skyping my brother. He’s in France at the moment.”

Naruto gapes in awe.

“Wow, that’s cool. I’d love to go there some day.”

“Yeah, well, how about you? What were you doing on our building wall at 4:30 am? Morning exercise? Catching flies?”

Naruto narrows his eyes. Sarcasm leaks out of Sasuke sometimes, a demonstration of the wit he has but doesn’t share often, but now he’s just unashamedly being a tease.

Naruto tells Sasuke about how his papers flew out and the broken latch on his stupid auto-lock windows (“Yeah, the window thing is really annoying” Sasuke nods) and the exhaustion that’s overtaking him. He proves it, more obviously, with a giant yawn and tears in his eyes.

But this entire situation is bizarre in its novelty and craziness, so Naruto understands when Sasuke presses on.

“I’m more interested to know how you became Spiderman in the first place.”

And there goes the billion dollar question.

So Naruto continues to tell the story of how he became Spiderman – he got bitten by a spider in the area near the Oto building, which is very oddly shaped like the head of a cobra. Ever since then he’s had insane strength and flexibility, not to mention healing powers. He hasn’t gotten a hangover since he got turned.

They get to talking till the sun comes up, about his powers, silly crimes, Sasuke’s band. It’s nice, Naruto thinks. A bit of a bonding moment. Kind of started at his expense, but well, he gets to learn that Sasuke is allergic to bananas (“That’s a weird ass allergy” he says, and Sasuke doesn’t disagree) so he finds that he doesn’t really mind. He even shows Sasuke some web tricks, immensely proud of himself when Sasuke’s eyes widen in wonder.

“One thing that has been bothering me, though,” Sasuke confesses as they each eat their bowl of cheerios that Sasuke has prepared for them.

Naruto nods for Sasuke to continue, unable to reply with his mouth full.

“Do you get wedgies in that suit?”

Naruto chokes immediately. He coughs and hacks and turns red as he hears laughter from the culprit of his demise.

“What the hell, Sasuke?” Naruto finally says after catching his breath, grimacing at the spill on his shirt. He dabs the offensive stain with the tissues Sasuke hands him, and then glares at the guy who’s still laughing. “I don’t get _wedgies_ because Kakashi did a good job with the spandex.”

“Kakashi?”

“Yeah my high school teacher. He makes my gear and stuff, kind of like Q from James Bond.”

Sasuke hums.

“I think I’ve heard that name before somewhere.” He throws Naruto a black shirt from his drawer, to which Naruto catches with ease (obviously). “Anyway you’re gonna need that. The milk’s not gonna come off unless you wash it.”

Naruto changes immediately, not missing the way Sasuke glances down before looking away. Naruto fixes his blond locks with a rough sweep through with his fingers and looks down at the shirt. It reads ‘TAKA’ in block letters across it in holo print, a hawk standing on the flat of the ‘T’. It’s Sasuke’s band shirt.

“Wow, this is so cool.” The rainbow colours shift as he pulls the black shirt left and right under the light. “When’s your next gig?”

“Actually, next Saturday. Want to come?”

Naruto nods before he realises he’s smiling.

“Of course! I’m gonna have to listen to some of your music first though, I don’t know any of your songs.”

Sasuke links him on Soundcloud just as they walk out into the living room. A silver haired guy with weirdly sharp teeth blinks at them from outside the toilet, having just come out of it. He’s not wearing a shirt, only a loose grey track pants.

Sasuke introduces them, and Naruto waves. He’s seen the guy before with Sasuke, now it makes sense that they’re house mates.

“Nice shirt.” Suigetsu smirks at Naruto then back at Sasuke, “Finally getting some, eh, Sasuke?”

Sasuke rolls his eyes.

“Shut up, Sui. He’s just borrowing it.”

Naruto doesn’t get any of it and wonders if it’s an inside joke until he follows Suigetsu’s line of sight to the Taka shirt and suddenly realises what was implied. 

“Um, yeah, no. I spilled some milk on it.”

In hindsight, not the best thing to say, Naruto realises. Because Suigetsu’s grin grows even wider to a point that Naruto wonders if it’s physically possible.

“Oh yeah, _milk_ ,” Suigetsu winks at him, “I’m _sure_.”

Thankfully, Sasuke quickly realises what a disaster this is and ushers Naruto to the door without entertaining any of Suigetsu’s remarks.

“Will you be late again later? I’ll let the girls know.”

Naruto guesses that Sasuke is referring to the meeting.

“Yeah, I still need to finish that research and hopefully crash for a bit. Help cover for me?”

“Yeah. You can borrow my slippers.”

As the door closes, he hears Suigetsu saying something to Sasuke, to which Sasuke promptly tells him to fuck off. Unsure whether to cringe or laugh at the incredible turn of events in the last few hours, it dawns upon Naruto that he doesn’t have the keys to his place. He slams his temple against the door frame, knowing the wrath he’ll have to face for waking the RA Shikamaru up.

X0X0X0X

Nothing has changed since that day’s discovery. Not really, anyway, Sasuke thinks.

He does pay more attention to any Spiderman news, watching every video or reading any article that appears on his timeline. Now that he _knows_ , it’s really quite hilarious how he never noticed it was Naruto. The non-verbal signs are glaringly obvious – the hand on the back of his neck when he’s embarrassed at the reporter praising him, the uneven height of his shoulders, the timbre of his voice even if Naruto tries to change it to a lower pitch to sound more manly. The only thing that would have thrown Sasuke off was the physique of the guy. Naruto has never been overly muscular, but Sasuke has never noticed how toned Naruto’s body is, because the suit really, _really_ brings that out.

Then again, it’s not like Sasuke spends hours analysing every single part of Naruto’s body (or anyone’s body, for that matter) to check it against the physique of Spiderman. A superhero seems very much like a comic book thing, an alternate sci-fi universe thing, along with fire-breathing ninjas and sailor moon and other crap. And even if they do exist, one might only get to know a superhero with ten degrees of separation: someone knows someone who knows someone whose second cousin twice removed is Spiderman’s classmate, or something.

Who would’ve guessed that Spiderman literally lives under the roof of the same building?

But, then again, now that he _knows_ , Sasuke finds it much easier to forgive Naruto when he’s late to meetings, or even helps Naruto to explain to the girls why the blond’s so called ‘toilet breaks’ sometimes last more than an hour. To put it poorly, they don’t know better. And Sasuke does.

The rush of keeping a secret brings back memories when Sasuke first started doing gigs around the city without his parents’ approval. He’s definitely opened up about it since then, and his parents couldn’t care less about what he does as long as he keeps his scholarship (he suspects Itachi has something to do with this), but, the rush of feelings is the same.

Naruto tries hard this week, though, with Sasuke’s help, to bring treats he knows that would appease his group mates. Strawberry cake for Karin and a soy latte for Sakura. Even with Sasuke, Naruto has learnt to buy him the black coffee he likes from Starbucks.

Well, one’s gotta pay the keeper of their secrets, right?

The both of them have not had the time to meet since their last project meeting–Naruto’s got his Pizza job on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and all his Spidey business, and Sasuke’s got actual studying to do to maintain his scholarship–but they do text every now and then, more often than before the discovery. And the next time they actually do see each other is a week later at the gig Sasuke mentioned previously in his room.

The performance is at a small open space with dim but tacky coloured stage lights. There’s a mini bar in the corner for drinks and beer. To be honest, amidst course work the night before and rehearsals the entire day, he forgets ever inviting Naruto until the guy appears in the pub, wearing the holo Taka shirt he borrowed. He’s here with Gaara, whom Sasuke knows is Naruto’s childhood friend. And he also knows that Gaara’s in the same vet science course as Juugo, who’s the drummer of Taka.

Sasuke gives a small wave from on the stage and smiles when Naruto waves back. They’re still setting up the equipment, so their two new ‘fans’ are pretty early.

“Hey, isn’t that lover boy?” Suigetsu says offhandedly, turning the dials on the mixer for his bass guitar.

Sasuke elbows him in the stomach and plans to ignores him for the rest of the night. He thanks the heavens that Karin did not catch any of that or else he’ll never hear the end of it.

It’s a small crowd tonight, but Sasuke likes it that way. He recognises a few familiar fans as the lights dim. But tonight, for some reason, he is a little nervous; he can feel his fingers slipping on the guitar strings, his heart in his chest running a mile a minute. But six bars in and he sees Naruto bobbing to the music, _their_ music, and he eventually relaxes.

Even when Naruto leaves midway through the show and doesn’t come back, Sasuke finds that he doesn’t mind it that much, because he _knows_.

Later, he receives a long text with a sad face emoji, a spider and a web, then a music note with at least ten thumbs up and lots of clapping.

Sasuke laughs. It’s nice, he thinks, and wonders why he took so long to invite Naruto to one of their shows.

X0X0X0X

Naruto nods to the beat in his earphones. If he were sitting down he would be bouncing his leg and tapping to the drum fill in the last bar, but he’s on the treadmill in the gym, so he settles for head bobbing.

Sasuke has a nice voice. It’s a deep tenor, like his speaking voice. But there’s something about the singing parts, the humming that really gets to Naruto. Don’t even get him started on the falsetto bits. Naruto knows a bit about singing, because Iruka used to be in the boys choir and he still sings.

Anyway, Taka has pretty solid tracks. He didn’t even know Karin is in the band too, playing the keyboard. Evidently she was as surprised as he was when they saw each other that night at the gig. Nonetheless, Naruto thoroughly enjoyed his time there, though still upset he had to leave abruptly–Spidey senses eventually leading to a break-in at a medical clinic of some sort. Also, seeing Sasuke in tight leather jeans and eyeliner just messed up his system for a bit. It was very different from how he usually looks. Not the typical studious Sasuke that Naruto is used to seeing in the library, glasses on and pen marks on his fingers. It’s different, in a good– _really good_ –way, of course.

An enigma, really.

Naruto steps off the treadmill around the same time as his friends. Gaara hands him his orange towel, and he wipes off his sweat before taking a chug from his bottle. Kiba slaps him with his own brown towel as they head off to the showers.

“Heard you went to Juugo’s gig the other night.” He asks Naruto cheekily, “Also heard that _Sasuke_ was smoking hot on stage. Got a few chicks and a blond dude screaming for him.” 

Naruto glares at Gaara who pretends to be both blind and mute at the moment.

“I wasn’t screaming, asshole. Their songs are good, you would know.” Naruto shrugs, unlocking the locker and taking his stuff. “Juugo let you hear a few before, right?”

“Yeah, but this is _different_.”

“No it’s _not_.”

“Yeah it _is_. Gaara said you looked starry-eyed.” Kiba blinks his lashes obnoxiously in his face and laughs when Naruto shoves him away. “If Gaara didn’t tell me otherwise I’d have thought Sasuke’s the one keeping you busy these few months. You’ve been disappearing a lot lately.”

Naruto sighs. It’s true. He hasn’t had time to hang out with his childhood friends that much. But it’s not all Spiderman business. The other half of the reason is also because Kiba and Gaara are in vet school. Has anyone seen the hours for vet school? It’s a wonder they’re at the gym together at all.

The three of them grew up together back in the town near the city. Their families still live there, together with Iruka. They visit every summer break.

They never ask when Naruto leaves abruptly at times because of his _other_ life. Does he feel good lying to them? No, but Naruto is grateful they trust him enough when he says it’s some kind of errand for Iruka. Which is, kind of true. His foster father embodies all that is good, and crime fighting as a web-shooting superhero is good, right?

So yeah.

Naruto knows the time they can get to spend together will reduce again when Gaara and Kiba head off to their rural internships on the farms out of the city in a few weeks.

“That’s why we’re grabbing dinner, right? Spending all the time I can with you guys.” Naruto feigns a headache, “Oh the sacrifices, honestly, killing my brain cells.”

And when Kiba smacks Naruto in the butt with the towel again and Gaara throws a shoe in his face, Naruto knows the previous conversation is over.

X0X0X0X

After an entire weekend with the boys, Naruto is surprised he has any energy left for university or work, or any Spiderman business. Gaara and Kiba are leaving for the rural farms next Wednesday, so they have one more week of fun before they got to start packing and leave.

“Can’t wait to bust your ass later in laser tag!” Kiba speaks out loud, turning a few heads because of his volume. They are walking down town one late afternoon on a Tuesday, having finished their classes that morning.

“More like _me_ busting _your_ ass, dog face!” Naruto nudges him back. Kiba grabs him in a headlock and gives him a noogie.

“You wish you could bust my ass!”

Gaara rolls his eyes but laughs at his and Kiba’s antics.

The three of them decide to eat tacos for a light dinner before heading to the place for laser tag. Just as they’re about the enter the restaurant, Naruto feels his phone buzzing in his pockets. He whips out the device and realises it’s Sasuke calling. The display picture is one of the first pictures he has of Sasuke, with his dark haired friend in glasses, holding the cup of coffee Naruto got.

“Hold on, gonna grab this, you guys can head in first.”

“Ooh, who is it?” Kiba leans forward to sneak a peek at his phone, sees Sasuke’s picture, and sniggers. “OOOOH, IT’S SASUKE!”

Naruto flips him off. He loves his friends, but they’re unbearable sometimes.

“Just get in and order first will you, I’ll be there in a sec.” He glares insistently at Gaara, who takes the hint and drags Kiba into the restaurant.

Naruto answers the call.

“Hey, Sasuke, whats up?”

_“Naruto, hi, thank god,”_ Sasuke sounds breathless, panicked, in fact. Naruto worries for a second.

“Did something happened?”

_“No, no, I’m okay, I just- are you free now? You’re with Gaara?”_

Naruto glances at Gaara and Kiba waiting in line in the restaurant.

“Yeah, and Kiba. Why? Are you okay?”

_“Sorry, I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t need your help but I got back late today and the train is delayed and Suigetsu already left early this morning and I can’t get an Uber because it’s close to peak hour and there’s a huge accident that’s blocking the highway but I really can’t be late for this audition and-_ ”

“Wait, slow down, what?”

Sasuke sucks in a deep breath.

_“I think…I think I need you to swing me to The Arena.”_

Naruto’s jaw drops.

“What?”

So that’s how Naruto finds himself on the roof of the city library building in full Spiderman suit, with Sasuke next to him, looking down to the ground from the 30th floor. He’s used to this, people looking small and tiny like ants scuttling around, and cars moving like tiny Hotwheels.

He’s used to it, but Sasuke’s not. And boy, does it show.

Sasuke looks great, really great actually. He has his eyeliner on again, and this time even multiple clip-on piercings on his ears. He’s in ripped black jeans, and a leather jacket. Real cool, real hot. But, he also looks scared as hell, like a cat on a tree. His eyes are blown wide and he stands clear of the edge. 

“Okay I think this is a very bad idea.” Sasuke’s voice shakes. He tip toes to look over the ledge, but Naruto doubts he can see anything because he’s almost half a metre away from it. “Why did I even think this was remotely possible?”

“Uh, because, it is?” Naruto replies, “Besides, you really need to get to this very important audition so that Taka can open for Muse so you really need my help.”

“Now you’re just repeating everything I told you earlier.”

“Because it’s the truth?”

Sasuke’s phone rings and Naruto can hear Suigetsu screaming at the other end.

Sasuke yells a few curses back and hangs up. Naruto has never seen him this uptight before, even when their assignment deadlines were coming up. This audition must mean a hell lot to him.

Naruto jumps on the familiar ledge and surveys the distance. If it were any other time, he’d take his time to enjoy the view. The sun is setting in the background, the hues decorating the sky in cotton candy pink, purple and orange. He comes here sometimes, just to clear his head, since it’s the tallest building a walk away from his place and the views are usually amazing, like today. He told Sasuke this before, and that’s why he suggested meeting here. Higher building, further swing, anyway. Physics.

“Okay, so I think it’ll take about only five minutes of swinging to get from here to The Arena.” He sees Sasuke groaning into his hands.

“Stop that, you’ll mess up your makeup.” Naruto snorts. He has a feeling that Sasuke might push him down the building if he laughed out loud. “Come up here.” He grabs the part of Sasuke’s hand not covered in bracelets and yanks him up onto the ledge. Sasuke quickly grips his wrist tightly, other arm out for balance.

“Okay, so I’m going to carry you.” Sasuke glares at him sceptically. “Hey, I’m Spiderman. I can carry a car, I can carry you.”

He sees Sasuke narrow his eyes and look down to the ground floor once more, seemingly calculating the odds of falling to his death. Naruto rolls his eyes again and walks closer to him. He hears Sasuke’s phone buzzing once more but he stops the other from answering it.

“All right, I think Suigetsu is really pissing himself because there will be no audition without the lead singer of Taka,” Naruto closes the distance between them, “So just close your eyes for me,” he continues, “I need you to trust me, okay?”

When Sasuke finally nods, Naruto grabs his arm and puts it around his neck.

“Close your eyes,” he says again, this time whispering.

Sasuke hesitates. But only for a moment.

Once those dark eyes disappear under long lashes, Naruto grabs him by the waist and jumps.

Thankfully, Sasuke doesn’t scream, or Naruto might have gone deaf in one ear. Naruto recalls when he first did this, it took a long time for him to enjoy the swooping feeling in his stomach. He doesn’t expect Sasuke to like it immediately, especially not on his first try, but hopes maybe some time in the future he’d be able to open his eyes to see the changing city lights from this view above.

But for now, Sasuke hides his face in Naruto's neck. He holds onto Naruto with both arms, legs hanging free alongside Naruto’s. As they swing, Naruto tries not to pay attention to how light Sasuke actually is, or the tightening grip around Naruto when they hang in the air without tension for a second, just as Naruto lets go of the web in order to shoot another one with the same hand. 

“You okay?” He asks when they’re near the bottom of their fifth pendulum swing.

Sasuke mumbles something that sounds a lot like a threat for him to “Stop talking and just swing!”

“Okay, okay. Almost there.”

Two hours later, Sasuke texts him the party popper emoji and announces that Taka passed the audition. Naruto beams behind his laser tag mask.

“Ready to kick some ass?” Kiba shouts over the shitty EDM music at the laser tag arena.

“Yeah, I’m ready to kick _his_ ass for ditching us earlier.” Gaara chimes in and points the gun at Naruto.

“Shut up, you whiney bitches!” Naruto puts his phone away in the locker and kicks it close. “Let’s see who’s getting their asses whooped tonight!”

X0X0X0X

One day, Sasuke texts.

**Sasuke 14:30**

you busy?

**Naruto 14:31**

w kiba n gaara

gon watch a movie

y?

**Sasuke 14:31**

i got something for your…

…other business

Naruto laughs out loud. He types in a bunch of shock face emoji and continues.

**Naruto 14:32**

r u a drug dealer now lol

c u at 6?

ur place?

**Sasuke 14:32**

yeah ok

don’t climb in from the window

X0X0X0X

Turns out, Sasuke got him a police scanner.

“Figured it’ll be helpful so you don’t have to swing around aimlessly waiting for bad guys to fall from the sky.”

It’s a little black rectangle, like those walkie-talkie things Iruka used to have in his garage. It has a number keypad on it, a long antennae and a knob at the top to turn the volume up or down. It looks really cool.

“And also,” Sasuke adds, “to make up for swinging me to the audition last time.”

Sasuke spends some time explaining how the gadget works, and Naruto cannot contain his excitement.

They listen in on the first one together, and it’s another medical facility break-in.

“Again?” Naruto exclaims, puzzled. Sasuke eyes him questioningly.

“You mean this has happened before?”

“Yeah, nothing was stolen, the guys just trashed the place. And _I_ trashed their getaway vehicle a few blocks down.”

The static breaks on the police scanner and the police repeats the call for back up again.

“Well, that’s me.” Naruto signals to the window as he unzips his hoodie. “Got some bad guys to catch.” He quickly changes into his suit underneath and gets to the window. Before pulling the curtain open, he stops, mask still in his hand, and thinks. Then he turns around to face his friend.

“What?” Sasuke asks. Naruto scratches his neck, feeling a little warm.

“Hey, do you wanna, uh, study together after the project meeting tomorrow?” Sasuke pauses for a second, looking a little confused. Naruto swallows.

“Um, I just thought we could hang out after. Was thinking of also grabbing some pizza from work to thank you for, you know…” Naruto points to the police scanner.

When Sasuke doesn’t reply, Naruto deflates a little. He busies himself by putting the mask on his head but not pulling it on all the way yet.

“…but I guess it’s okay if you have something on. Maybe some other time.”

“After the meeting is fine, idiot.” Sasuke shakes his head and smiles. He reaches forward to pull the Spiderman mask down Naruto’s face with a loud snap, shocking Naruto into jumping.

“Just admit that even Spiderman needs some help with statistics.”

Naruto recovers quickly and dismisses Sasuke’s tease with a shove, albeit half-heartedly. 

“Yeah, yeah, with your genius brain and all,” he says as he pulls the curtain apart to yank the window up and open.

“I’ll see you later for this?” Sasuke waves the scanner. 

“Yeah, see you!” Naruto nods before leaping down and slingshots a line of web to the opposite building.

Not two swings later, when Sasuke sticks his head out of the window and shouts after Naruto that he _jolly well get some black coffee_ _on the way back_ too, Naruto finds himself laughing into the wind, chest fluttering with some kind of feeling. And he’s sure this time, it’s definitely not from the swinging. 

X0X0X0X

Living vicariously through Naruto, Sasuke has always thought that he somehow understands the weight of being a superhero. When he sees Naruto scrambling into lectures one hour late, with his books falling down the steps, or throwing his half-eaten burger to Sakura because he has to rush off somewhere, Sasuke knows it’s not easy. Sometimes when Naruto says how tired he is, Sasuke has always believed he’s referring to the physical and mental exhaustion of juggling university, work, friends and family on a daily basis, on top of pretty much never-ending crime fighting. Naruto says that Sasuke helps. In fact, Naruto says that a lot especially when he has to leave abruptly and leave Sasuke to create some random excuse for him, but Sasuke believes him.

Still, something that Sasuke hasn’t thought about much, not until today as least, is how heavy the emotional burden actually is.

He receives a call from Naruto one Thursday night–a usual crime fighting night–just an hour after Naruto would have finished his delivery shift at Pepe Pizza.

“ _Hey, Sasuke_ ,” Naruto starts with a quiet voice, a little winded.

“You alright?” Sasuke asks, hearing swooshing sounds and car horns in the background, “Are you swinging?”

“ _Yeah, yeah. I… Yeah. Um…I…I don’t…”_ Sasuke has never heard Naruto sound this, well, _lost_ , and he can’t say he fully understands, though he wishes he could, because he finds out the next second the reason for Naruto’s distress. “ _M-My dad got knocked down by a car.”_

Immediately, Sasuke’s blood runs cold.

“What?”

He knows that Naruto’s foster father Iruka is here for the week and so they have been putting off the project meetings a little. Sakura and Karin are total sports in letting Naruto have his family time, so that’s great. Except, except now it seems like Iruka has gotten hurt. Is Naruto okay? Is he hurt?

“Are you hurt?” Sasuke asks quickly.

“ _No, I’m okay…I wasn’t there_ ,” Sasuke lets out a breath he does not realise he’s holding, “ _It’s just… I…I can’t get there yet, there’s a fire in one of the condominiums midtown. I’m on my way there so I can’t…_ ” Naruto says, voice shaking a little towards the end. Sasuke hears him take in a deep breath before continuing, “ _Look, I wouldn’t bother you if I could, but Gaara and Kiba are out of town, so I was hoping if you could go see if he’s okay? For me?_ ”

Sasuke finds himself grabbing his wallet and keys and rushing out to put his shoes on before Naruto even finishes his request.

“Yeah, of course. Of course it’s okay. Which hospital is he in?”

On his way there, Sasuke follows the news on Twitter. The blazing fire looks like a scene out of someone’s worst nightmare. The dark orange flames and pillowy black smoke rise up and out of the fifteen-storey building, illuminating the night sky in a dangerous maroon. He scrolls further to search for tweets of people on the scene. Firefighters are still on the way, there’s a reporter live-tweeting about a young family–oh god–still in there, and in the latest tweets he sees reports of Spiderman finally arriving, just moments before another video shows the red and blue figure swinging into the inferno.

Sasuke hopes that Naruto will be okay.

_NEWS FLASH: Spiderman saves 6-year-old girl and her baby brother from rising inferno downtown._

It’s a few hours later, after the disaster, that Naruto arrives at Iruka’s hospital ward. He has smoke marks on his cheeks and his hair’s in a total mess. But Sasuke says nothing about it. He just opens the door and lets him in to see Iruka, who’s doing okay save for a broken arm and a few bruises.

“Hey Spiderman, your friend showed me what you did out there.” The older man says, weak but proud.

When Naruto starts sniffling, Sasuke decides to close the door and wait outside.

Later, they sit on those uncomfortable hospital chairs outside Iruka’s room. Sasuke gets them both some shitty latte from the vending machine, but Naruto thanks him anyway.

The silence hangs heavy between them in the wake of the night’s events. They stay that way for a bit; Sasuke watches the steam rise from his own cup.

“The kid almost died, just now,” Naruto says suddenly, vacant eyes now trained on the floor, “She was unconscious and huddled over her baby brother next to the broken bed.”

Sasuke shifts a little closer, offering comfort and lets Naruto rest his weight so that their shoulders touch. 

“I…I can’t be at two places at once.” Naruto whispers, “One day I will have to choose between saving someone I love and saving someone else. And I hate it. I hate that I have to choose. I don’t _want_ to choose.” 

“And I hope you never have to make such a difficult decision again,” Sasuke replies, voice raspy from disuse. He clears his throat with a sip and goes on, “But I also know that’s probably not ever possible in this lifetime, really,” he adds, “…just like asking me to sing Taylor Swift. Impossible.”

Naruto snorts, and Sasuke counts that as a small victory.

“I don’t think life will ever be easy with the powers you have,” he says, nudging his shoe against Naruto’s, “Life will not go easy on you, or anyone around you, but nobody died tonight, and that’s also because of the choice _you_ made. Iruka is so proud of you for choosing the many civilian lives tonight. He said so himself.”

“But-”

“And I’m proud of you too, Naruto,” Sasuke adds on quickly. Because, well, he really is, “I’m proud that even when you have to choose, you choose to do good, and that’s all that matters.”

With that, when Naruto leans in a little more, Sasuke finds himself leaning right back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what do you think? x


	3. Chapter 3

Something changed between him and Sasuke that night.

Now, when they’re together, Naruto notices how much closer they sit. Their fingers touch sometimes when they walk. And, once or twice, Naruto has to resist the urge to hold onto Sasuke’s hand and not let go. Just because.

It’s mid-semester break, and of course it’s also time spent preparing for the mid-semester tests coming up. Kiba and Gaara left two weeks ago for their internship on the farms. They text disgusting photos of their gloved arms up cows’ asses and when Naruto shows it to Sasuke, Sasuke curses and whacks the phone away. He claims he’s had enough traumatising photos from Juugo who’s already two years ahead in vet science compared to Naruto’s friends.

They are having a study session that Friday night after Sasuke finishes his evening run.

(Earlier, in the alley, Naruto had hung himself upside down on his web, creeping behind an unsuspecting Sasuke who’s tying his shoe laces mid-run. He whispered a soft ‘ _boo_!’ to Sasuke’s neck, to which the latter yelped like a banshee, jumped and threatened to punch Naruto in the gut. “Don’t fucking scare me like that you idiot!”)

Now they’re at Naruto’s place, working on the module on Erikson’s developmental theory. Sasuke is distracted by something on his phone, but Naruto is trying to recall the answer to this multiple choice question so he doesn’t pay much attention. He has his Spiderman suit (sans his mask) and police scanner on, just in case the police needs back up.

“Nice artwork.”

“Huh?” Naruto looks up and a phone gets shoved in his face. He goes crossed eyed trying to focus on the photo, until he realises it’s one of him taping the burglars onto the walls in web.

“Oh yeah,” he laughs, “Yeah, another medical facility. It’s a bit weird. It’s the fourth break in and nothing much has been stolen.” Just as he finishes that sentence, his Spidey senses tingle, and he goes to the window to peek through the curtains.

“What?” Sasuke goes to look as well but Naruto pushes him away.

“Nothing, nothing,” he says, but Sasuke looks unconvinced, “Okay, ever since I stopped the last break in I keep feeling like something is up. There’s definitely something weird about these medical facilities.” He goes back to grab Sasuke’s phone and inspects the ‘artwork’.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to show you!” Naruto returns the phone to take the wrist shooters out from his bag and put them on. “These are new from Kakashi. They make the web much stronger and I can shoot further away.” He adjusts the contraption, which sits nicely on his wrist looking a bit like a slap on wristband. He shows Sasuke the small button that extends from the band and sits in the middle of his palm, just enough so he can press it with his middle finger.

“He even added some silly templates for the web,” Naruto points to Sasuke’s phone, “That’s how I got the artwork here.” The web looks exactly like the one a spider spins, intricate parallel lines that make up an octagon. “Do you want to try?”

“Can I?” Sasuke asks incredulously, “I’m not Spiderman.”

“Yeah it’s fine. Kakashi tried it himself. He added some extra web in there in case I run out or some shit. God forbid that ever happen.”

So Sasuke puts on the wristband and presses on the button, but nothing comes out.

“Actually, I forgot he made it so that only I can press the final product, because an average human doesn’t have enough strength.” Naruto gets on his knees in front of Sasuke, holding his wrist up, “Here let me do it. You just press here and-”

Naruto splutters because a small octagon shaped web lands on his own cheek, just missing his mouth as he flinches to the side.

Sasuke bellows in laughter, holding his belly with his head tilted back. He’s loud and uninhibited; it’s refreshing (an enigma) and Naruto can’t help but join in too.

“Okay, I did not think that one through.” he admits embarrassingly, pulling at the sticky web in disbelief. When Sasuke doesn’t stop laughing, Naruto whacks him in the leg. “Stop laughing, asshole! I’ve never done that before okay,” he splutters, “Usually I get other people wet and sticky, I don’t get myself wet and sticky!”

“ _You_ never got wet and sticky?”

“Well, yeah?! I shoot my web _at_ them, not at _myself_!”

“Wow, Hinata never got _you_ wet and sticky?”

The expression Naruto wears is priceless.

“WHAT?!”

“I’m just joking you idiot!”

“Ugh, Sasuke, just… ugh!” Naruto shakes his head and covers his ears, “Stop spending so much time with Suigestu! He’s getting you all dirty with that potty mouth.”

“He’s my house mate! I can’t help it!” Sasuke yells back.

And that’s how the evening goes on.

That is, until the police scanner calls for back up, and Naruto leaves through the fire escape (this time, sans sticky web on his face).

When he returns to his place at 10pm, Sasuke is still here, and he even has Naruto’s favourite fried chicken delivered for supper, so all is forgiven.

X0X0X0X

Sasuke receives a drunk text from Suigetsu later at midnight, just as he’s about to return to their apartment.

**Suigetsu 00:23**

dud im birngin sumbody over

**Sasuke 00:23**

dude you know itachi’s not in town

**Suigetsu 00:24**

but hes hoot

n hes super hung

ill sohw u pix tmr

**Sasuke 00:24**

ew please don’t

**Suigetsu 00:26**

anywae u at nartos rite

stay deer n hav fun

hu needs itahci when u hav nartuo

maybi he hung 2

**Sasuke 00:26**

fuck you

**Suigetsu 00:27**

ur welcum

“Can I just sleep here tonight? Suigetsu is bringing someone over.”

“Sure! He does that often?” Naruto asks.

“Yeah, and they’re usually very, very loud,” Sasuke grimaces, “But it’s fine, I usually go to my brother’s, but he’s still out of town and forgot to hand me his keys this time.”

“No problem. I just need to grab the sheets I just washed. Dad left not long ago so I got around doing them,” Naruto turns back to Sasuke before going to the laundry corner, “Do you need to get some clothes from your place?”

“It’s fine, can I just borrow that Taka shirt from last time?” Sasuke looks down at his jeans, “and maybe some sweat pants.”

“Um, I wore that the other day and it’s not washed yet…maybe I’ll lend you mine?”

“Okay, but nothing orange.”

“Excuse me!?” Naruto exclaims, “Orange is a great colour!”

“Yeah, if you want to look like a carrot.”

In the end, Naruto lends him a silly grey T-shirt. It has Spiderman holding an iPhone while standing next to some words in a quote.

“ ‘They say I spend too much time on the web’ ” Sasuke reads, “What the hell?”

“Cute, eh?” Naruto has a childish smile that shows almost all his teeth, “My Dad got it for me.”

Sasuke thinks he’ll look silly in it, but changes into it anyway. It’s soft and well-worn, and it smells like the Tide laundry detergent that he uses.

“Did you start using Tide too?” They had a conversation about it the other day, when Naruto asked about that scent in Sasuke’s room. 

A quick scratch of his neck, Naruto averts his eyes and starts changing the pillowcases.

“Yeah. I like it,” He says, to the bed really, fluffing the pillow up now, “It smells really good on you, so...”

It does smell good, Sasuke thinks. He goes to help Naruto fix up the pillows.

When they’re done, Naruto stands up and brushes imaginary dust off his pants, clearing his throat awkwardly.

“Um, I think I have a new toothbrush somewhere…” He says to himself as he walks to the toilet to look for it. He’s still not looking at Sasuke, but there’s a tinge of red on his face. It shouldn’t be that noticeable, but Sasuke sees it anyway. And so he stares.

After taking turns to wash up, Sasuke hangs the small face towel on the hook behind the door and walks back into Naruto’s room.

“Can I borrow a pillow for the sofa?”

“What? No, no, you can sleep on my bed! That’s why I got clean sheets.”

Sasuke looks at said bed, “Is yours a double?”

“Yeah it fits my Dad just fine, so you should fit on it too.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind the sofa.” That’s what he does when he’s at Itachi’s anyway. Then again, Itachi has one of those Italian leather ones that extends to look more like a large day bed. God knows why his brother needs such a huge sofa when he’s hardly home.

“Come on, let’s just share!”

Sasuke is considering the option, when he suddenly realises.

“Wait, no more crime fighting tonight?” He points to the police scanner that Naruto had switched off earlier.

Naruto simply bites down on his bottom lip and gives him an embarrassed look, like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“I was thinking, maybe, Spiderman will have an early rest. Just for tonight.”

“You know, you’re really skinny.” Naruto says randomly, when they’re laying side by side. Sasuke is facing the ceiling, arms folded on his chest on top of the blanket. Naruto’s body is warm next to his. The room is dark now, and the only reason Sasuke can see anything at all is because of the light that shines in from the window.

“I used to do Judo.” He replies, as if that somehow explains everything. 

He feels Naruto shift and sees him sit up on his elbow.

“What?! That’s so cool! Can you throw me?”

“Not now, obviously, you’re _Spiderman_. Maybe before you got turned?” He fancies a guess, “My brother still does it. I just didn’t continue because I wanted to play the guitar, and slamming people on mats risks injuring my wrist.”

Naruto hums and falls back onto the bed. He continues looking at Sasuke, though.

“What does your brother do?”

Sasuke turns his head to look back.

“He’s a police detective.”

Naruto throws his hands up in exasperation.

“What is with you and your family?!”, he exhales sharply, “bunch of over-achievers.”

“Says the guy who’s Spiderman?”

“…touché.”

They laugh.

“Actually, I think I can check in with my brother about the break-ins at the medical facilities.” Sasuke explains how Itachi is involved with the narcotics bureau at the moment, and usually break-ins at these facilities are to do with illegal drugs. “He might know something that can help you.”

“Wow that’ll be really cool. You don’t have to, though. It might be dangerous to even ask about it,” Naruto says, reminding Sasuke of the recent tingling of his Spidey senses.

“It’s fine. Itachi is really overprotective,” _he’ll not let anyone lay a finger on me_ , he thinks to himself.

Speaking of families, Naruto shares his stories of growing up with Iruka, and how he met Gaara who transferred to his elementary school in the second year. Somehow, the topics went on to Kiba dating some girl with long blond hair and insane nail art, and then to Karin dyeing her hair for a gig, and then Naruto suddenly asks.

“You bang any fans yet?”

_Not recently, no. “…_ that’s what Suigetsu does.”

“But I thought people love banging rock stars.”

“Well I’m not famous enough,” that’s a lie, but Naruto doesn’t have to know about the offers Sasuke has turned down in the last month or two. He just isn’t that interested anymore. 

“What about you?” He returns the question, “Anyone after Hinata?”

“Nah, no time for that now,” Naruto shakes his head, “How did you know about her, anyway?”

Sasuke shrugs.

“Heard a thing or two last year,” he says, “I mean, it wasn’t exactly a secret that you guys were together,” Sasuke recalls seeing them glued to the hip, “or when you guys broke up. You two don’t even talk to each other anymore.”

Naruto nods, fiddling with a thread on the blanket. He’s not really looking at Sasuke.

“What happened, anyway?” Sasuke asks, suddenly feeling a little more interested to know.

“Just didn’t measure up to expectations I guess.” Naruto explains how she wanted more and more from him, more time, more gifts, more of everything, and then when he couldn’t she just up and left.

“Well, it doesn’t matter anymore, I don’t think,” Naruto sounds a little dejected now, eyes still downcast, “It’s probably too dangerous for anyone to be with me, with the whole Spiderman thing. Who knows when I’ll make some great enemies in this line of work, like Batman and the Joker,” He tries to make it sound light-hearted, but Sasuke can see through the act.

“That’s bullshit,” Sasuke says, too abruptly, making Naruto jerk his head up to meet his eyes. The guy looks a bit startled. So Sasuke collects himself and clarifies, “What I mean is…I think it’s silly to think that nobody will want you now that you’re Spiderman; I’m quite sure there’s someone out there who’d think you’re worth the risk.”

Naruto stares at him, blue eyes shimmering a little brighter under the moonlight.

“You really think so?”

“Yeah,” staring back, Sasuke says confidently now, “I _know_ so.”

“Hmm,” Naruto hums for a moment. He looks up at the ceiling, seemingly in the midst of considering those words. A small smile begins to form on Naruto’s lips as Sasuke waits, then the blond throws the thin blanket thread he has peeled off, right at Sasuke’s face, “Who knew you were such a sap, Sasuke?”

_Yeah_ , Sasuke wonders to himself as he throws the string back at his friend, _who knew._

Sasuke doesn’t know when they fell asleep, but learns, the moment he wakes up, that Naruto is a cuddler.

They’re both facing the door, with Naruto’s arm around his waist spooning him from the back. It’s very warm and comfortable, what with the weather getting chilly as they enter late autumn, but then when he notices the digital clock on Naruto’s side table, he knows he has to leave soon. Taka has rehearsals for the entire day starting from noon, and it’s already 10am. He hopes that Suigetsu didn’t forget.

Gently, he lifts Naruto’s arm and sets it on the mattress. He sits up, stretching his neck for a bit, then turns his whole body to look at Naruto.

The other is still sleeping; his blond tresses are tousled, highlights obvious under the morning sun streaming in from the window. His mouth is hanging a little open but no drool, and his nostrils flare slightly, matching his slow breaths in and out.

Carefully, Sasuke touches the faint scars on Naruto’s cheeks. They’re not as obvious in the dark or even usually in the day, but directly under the sunlight, like now, you can clearly see the three thin lines on each side. _A bicycle accident_ , Naruto explained last night. _Cool, eh?_

It suddenly dawns upon Sasuke that Naruto’s really, r _eally_ attractive. And he doesn’t quite know what to make of this realisation.

Then, Naruto stirs a bit and Sasuke retracts his fingers like he got burnt.

_Okay, no more creeping._

His phone is dead, having forgotten to charge it last night. So he finds a pen and paper and leaves a note for Naruto. Then, with much reluctance, leaves as quietly as he can.

X0X0X0X

Naruto opens his eyes the moment the front door shuts.

His heart can’t stop racing in his chest. It had started when he woke up in the middle of the night and Sasuke was sleeping soundly in his arms.

Then, again this morning, even faster when Sasuke touched the scars on his face.

He groans into the pillow and kicks his legs on the bed. Like he used to when he was much younger when he didn’t want to get up in the morning and Iruka would pinch him for whining too much. 

He turns to the side for a much needed breath after self-suffocating, and spies a note on the side table. He’s too far, so he shoots a line of web to grab it.

_My phone’s dead and I didn’t want to wake you._

_I’m off to rehearsals with Taka for the whole day._

_Thanks for letting me bunk here._

_See you tomorrow for dinner? We can have that ramen you like._

Naruto doesn’t even know he’s grinning, until he suddenly becomes fully conscious of it, then he groans into the pillow again and resumes his kicking.

He’s _so_ into Sasuke.

X0X0X0X

Karin comes to wake Suigetsu that morning, just as Sasuke gets out of the shower. They pretend not to notice when Suigetsu’s bed partner walks out into the living room with bite marks on his neck, or when the guy winces in his walk. 

“Fucker, I could smell the cum in the living room.” Karin grimaces as she plugs the keyboard into the mixer. They’re finally at the university’s music studio which has everything they need, and more importantly, it’s sound-proof, which is what their apartments aren’t.

“Yeah, that’s why if you notice, I don’t ever sit on the sofa.” Sasuke explains, tuning his electric guitar according to the studio tuner.

“Bitch, you’re just jealous you’re not getting any,” Suigetsu retorts to Karin in a sing-song voice. He helps Juugo move the extra crash cymbal into place, adjusting the microphone over the drums. After he’s done, he sits down like he’s moved a mountain, whips out his phone and starts scrolling. 

“Stop being a pervert. How’d _you_ know I’m not getting any?”

Suigetsu doesn’t rise up to her bait, and instead exclaims.

“Wow news flash: Spiderman just stopped an armed bank robbery. This early on a weekend. Do banks even open on weekends?”

_Oh, so Naruto’s up_ , Sasuke thinks to himself.

“It’s not early anymore,” Karin says pointedly, “it’s almost 12:30pm.”

“Shut up, woman!”

“Guys, stop shouting,” Juugo huffs, but his bandmates pay no attention.

And neither does Sasuke, who’s wondering if Naruto read his note.

“Damn, look at the robbers all tied up in web,” Karin squints at the phone Suigetsu raises up to show everyone in the room, “That’s really amazing!” Sasuke looks closely at the octagon web designs, and agrees. _Must be those web shooter things again_ , he thinks as he sips on his iced Americano. 

“What’s with your double standards?” Suigetsu scoffs, “When Spiderman shoots his sticky stuff all over someone he's ‘amazing’. But when _I_ do it I'm a pervert.”

Sasuke chokes on his coffee. His brain cells had misfired when he heard something about Naruto shooting sticky substances all over someone.

Which is really hypocritical of him, because he was fine teasing Naruto yesterday about getting himself _wet and sticky_ , up until the point they cuddled and he got acquainted with the way Naruto looks in his sleep and now the guy even smells like Sasuke and everything’s just _really_ confusing.

Must be the lack of caffeine, Sasuke reasons; he hasn’t finished his coffee yet. He reaches for the cup and takes another huge sip once he stops coughing, hoping to wake his brain up properly. 

X0X0X0X

Since then, Sasuke starts thinking.

He starts thinking a lot.

He thinks about Naruto when he sees Spiderman tweets all over on his timeline.

He thinks about Naruto when Naruto sends him a silly cat video.

He thinks about Naruto when Naruto doesn’t send him anything.

He thinks about Naruto when Naruto swings by to bring him applesauce bread “ _because banana bread will make you swell like a balloon right”_? 

He thinks a lot about Naruto, especially after Naruto pulls Sasuke right into his arms and away from a bicycle coming at them from a blind spot ( _Spidey senses,_ Naruto explains). Because that’s when Sasuke realises, when his chest is against Naruto’s, that he’s staring at Naruto’s lips.

Only to look up to see that Naruto is staring right back at his.

Yeah, that made Sasuke think. _A lot._

X0X0X0X

Sasuke meets his brother when the latter finally gets back in town from another business trip.

They’re having lunch at a fancy sushi place. Well, Itachi let him pick so he did.

After they catch up on Sasuke’s recent assignments and his latest gigs, Sasuke decides to ask Itachi if he’s been looking into the medical facility break-ins.

“Mm, why the sudden interest?”

“Because it’s been on the news and all. Just wondering if it is gang-related or something?” Sasuke pretends they’re just having regular lunch conversation about Itachi’s detective work, but he knows that his brother can see right through him.

Itachi chews on the slice of fresh tuna and mulls over Sasuke’s question. Every time he does that humming thing, Sasuke knows his brother is deciding the exact way to claim payment from him for this piece of information. Just like how he blackmailed high school Sasuke into keeping Itachi’s ex-boyfriend a secret from their parents using the knowledge of Sasuke’s porn preference (“ _Stop hacking into my laptop, nii-san!”_ ), and how, because Sasuke needed some extra help for a chemistry elective, Itachi made Sasuke send him a recording of Taka’s unreleased tracks because his friend happened to be a fan.

That’s why, every time they meet, Sasuke makes sure to eat at the best restaurants, because he knows Itachi always pays. How else will he get back at his brother at all?

Apparently Itachi must have decided, because he answers Sasuke’s earlier question.

“Well, it _might_ gang-related,” Itachi gives a non-committal shrug, “We believe that it is linked to the Oto corporation.”

“Oto corporation? The biomedical building near that old hospital?” That makes sense. After the fourth break in, Naruto told Sasuke he saw someone whom he thought was from Oto corporation.

_“I remember because the guy was exiting the building was around the time I got bitten and my senses were crazily heightened.”_

But this information also doesn’t explain anything about the break-ins. And Sasuke asks Itachi as much.

“All these private facilities received loans from Oto but did not manage to pay up in time,” his brother explains, “The people we caught were mostly lower rank gang members. Nobody would say who paid them to trash the clinics.”

Sasuke listens, head tilting in interest.

“Although not quite a billion dollar company, Oto has always been in the niche market of animal and medical research. But there’s also been some whispers of something shady going on in there. Even the hospital next to it is now closed. We’ve never gotten a warrant to search their building, though I’ve met the CEO, and he’s a real snake.

“Anyway,” Itachi continues after he sets his chopsticks down, lacing his fingers together under his chin, “speaking of reptiles and insects and the like, I hear you’re into _Spiderman_ these days.”

Sasuke pauses with half a piece of tempura in his mouth. He looks up at Itachi, who has a playful glint in his eyes.

“Don’t look so surprised,” Itachi drawls, “I follow you on twitter, remember?”

Sasuke eyes his brother suspiciously.

“No you _don’t_.”

Itachi smirks.

“Oops? I guess you’ll just have to find out how I got this piece of information,” Itachi dabs his mouth with the napkin, having decided that he’s quite done with his meal, “I wonder if Spiderman has ever done bondage with all that web at his disposal. That’ll be right up your alley, wouldn’t it?”

Sasuke flushes beet red.

“What the fuck, Itachi?!”

X0X0X0X

Sasuke decides to scout the Oto corporation building, simply out of curiosity, since google maps show that it’s about fifteen minutes from the train station where Itachi drops him off after dessert.

He follows the map, which points him north. He can already see the twenty-storey building further up, about a few streets away. His eyes squint in the afternoon sun as he stops to stare at the tall building. From this angle, it just looks like an oddly shaped triangle, though Sasuke has seen the google images of the building from other high angles. It’s really supposed to look like a cobra.

Which is really weird, because, who likes snakes?

Anyway, as he gets closer, he realises that the building’s on the other side of the road, so he crosses over and walks towards it, acting like he’s just passing by. When he’s on the same street as the building, he notices that the façade is made of opaque glass, like there’s something to hide within the building walls. He continues further up, circling the perimeter of the building and pausing at every side door to look around, until he reaches the only parts of the exterior that are transparent – the main sliding doors. He stops, pretends to check the underside of his shoe, and then looks in.

The reception table is empty save for two chairs. The spacious lobby is also empty. There are gantries for keycard scanning, and a metal detector, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone in there.

Sasuke bends down this time to pretend to tie his shoelace, and looks up to inspect the sliding doors. There’s no way to enter unless you have a keycard, which he doesn’t. So he takes his phone out and snaps a few pictures instead. Just as he’s about to send them to Naruto, two security guards appear in the corner of the lobby. They’re in uniform, weapons and all, heading fast his way.

Sasuke quickly stands up and keeps his phone, heading back in the direction of the train station where he came from.

Turning down one street onto another, Sasuke keeps up his pace. Two corners in and he realises that he’s being tailed. Whoever it is, they are still far away enough for now, but he hears the shuffling of their feet and sees a shadow from the side when he turns. He swallows, and walks faster.

His heart is now beating so fast it’s going to jump out of his mouth, and he has a really bad feeling. He wants to break out into a sprint, but that’ll just make it weirder and more obvious that he’s guilty.

Quickly, Sasuke whips out his phone and dials the person he knows will answer immediately.

X0X0X0X

_15 minutes earlier…_

Naruto’s having a break during his delivery shift at Pepe Pizza. Nobody orders a pizza at 3:30pm; it’s a weird timing. So he’s sitting on the steps of the back door, delivery bag still on his back with the straps loosened all the way. He’s just taking a few minutes to check on Iruka. 

“Hey Dad, how’s your arm?”

“ _My arm’s okay. It’s a little difficult to do some chores, but I’m managing_ ,” Iruka says over the phone, “ _The kids at school have been very nice and caring, the other teachers too. Some even came by to help._ ”

“Including Kakashi? Is he coming around even more often now?”

Iruka tuts, and Naruto simply laughs.

“ _Enough of me, how are you?_ ” 

“Oh, you know, just, same old,” Naruto says, “tired, actually. I’m at work now, waiting for the next delivery order to come in.”

“ _Mm, I see. Take care of yourself. Have you been eating well?”_

Naruto explains how he just had two pizzas for lunch (weird Spider metabolism), so yes, he’s eating way too well.

They talk a little more about random things, until Iruka surprises him.

_“How’s Sasuke doing?”_

Naruto narrows his eyes, even though he knows his dad can’t see him.

“He’s fine. Why are you asking?”

Laughter floats through the other end.

“ _Oh, you know, just wondering. You’ve been texting about him a lot lately. And he was really quite nice and polite at the hospital.”_

Naruto thinks back to that night, and flushes, “Yeah, he is really nice.”

“ _Ooh, nice like, potential boyfriend kind of nice?_ ”

“Stop it Dad! It’s nothing like that…!”

“ _Don’t lie to me, young man_.” Naruto can almost see Iruka’s fake stern look, finger wagging and all, and he laughs.

“Okay, okay, fine. I mean, yeah he’s really nice. He looks nice, he also sings really well… and he smells really good too…”

He’s glad that Iruka can’t see his face right now, which is red for sure, or else he’d tease even more.

“…I just- I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like, _maybe_? Maybe he feels something? But I don’t know,” Naruto shrugs, “I’m also scared. What if I don’t meet his expectations? What if it ends up like what went down with Hinata?” Naruto doesn’t want it to turn out like that. He really doesn’t.

“ _I don’t think it will, Naruto. Hinata never knew you that well. Nor you her. The both of you barely even spoke before you started dating._

“I know, I just-” Naruto sighs, “Plus, that was before the whole… _other_ life. I don’t want to have to choose between spending time with him and saving others.”

“ _Aren’t you already doing that now, though?_ ” Iruka asks, “ _Sasuke seems to be coping perfectly fine with it. In fact, I think it’s because he actually_ knows _that makes everything so much easier. You don’t have to explain anything, or lie, or hide anything from him. And that’s already what makes him so special.”_

Naruto stares down at his shoes, kicking the loose rock on the ground.

_"Think about it, maybe it’s worth a try_? _Honestly, he’s quite the eye candy too, eh?_ ”

Naruto splutters.

“Okay, Dad, okay, fine! I’ll think about it…!”

After hanging up, Naruto gets right into the messenger app and looks at the latest messages from Sasuke.

**Sasuke 14:15**

still with itachi

got some info about the break-in stuff

we’re going out for dessert first, though

update you later

Sasuke had told him that Itachi’s bringing him to some fancy Japanese restaurant. Sasuke really likes trying new food places, so Naruto’s got to ask him for reviews later.

He scrolls up to his and Sasuke’s old chat messages, and sees a few funny memes and videos, among links to some Spiderman news.

He laughs out loud when he sees again the meme of the woman yelling at a cat, but in reverse: with the white cat yelling at the lady.

**Sasuke 11:36**

me at sui the next time he sexiles me

Naruto shakes his head, still grinning as he reads another older text from another day, this time with a cute photo of a fox.

**Sasuke 16:03**

thought of you because of the whiskers

Naruto can’t control the smile on his face, bouncing his leg a little as he thinks about what Iruka said earlier.

He thinks about waking up with Sasuke in the mornings, or even coming back for a hug after a difficult night of crime fighting… yeah, that’ll be nice, he thinks to himself.

“Next order is coming up Naruto, get ready!”

Snapping out of his daydream, he yells a loud ‘okay’ to let his co-worker know that he’s heard him.

Suddenly, his phone rings. It’s Sasuke. 

_“…maybe it’s worth a try?”_

Naruto sucks in a deep breath, and then picks up the call. 

He doesn’t even have time to say hello or ask if Sasuke has finished his dessert with Itachi, because Sasuke starts talking.

“ _Hey, Naruto, just in time_ ,” his friend says in a quick whisper, like he’s cupping his hand over the speaker, which is odd. “ _Look, I don’t have much time now, but I just want to let you know that Itachi said Oto probably has something to do with the break-ins_ ,” he hears Sasuke ramble into the phone, a little winded, like he’s walking really fast.

“Hey are you okay? Why do you sound like you’ve just run a marathon?”

“ _Yeah, I think it was a mistake, but I was just in the area, so I went to check out the Oto building-”_

“You what?!” Naruto shrieks. That semi-deserted area has really weird vibes. The buildings around are often boarded up and empty. He wouldn’t go there again by himself, because the last time he got sent there on a pizza delivery he went home shooting webs out of his wrist. 

_“-I left! I already left, but I think someone’s following me_.”

“Could it be someone you know?”

_“No, I don’t think so. I think it could be someone from Oto.”_

“Why would anyone from Oto be following you?”

_“…I might have taken a picture or two-”_

“What?! Why’d you do that?!”

_“I know! Bad idea, I realised. I thought it’ll be helpful, if you wanted to sneak in or something!”_

Naruto slams the heel of his palm on his forehead.

“Okay, Sasuke, okay. Never mind,” he says, shaking his head, “Where are you now?” He imagines Sasuke looking around the area.

_“I can still see the building. I just passed the park renovations near that old hospital.”_

“Is Itachi still around? Can he come to get you?”

_“He left a while ago. And he has a case in court, I don’t want to bother him.”_

“I’m still on shift, but I have a delivery coming up real quick. I’ll leave as soon as I can and meet you there.”

Suddenly, the goosebumps raise from his neck down to his arms. Spidey senses are tingling again. Just like the last few times he thought something was going to happen.

Not a good sign.

Naruto grips his phone tightly.

“Sasuke, did you hear me? I’ll meet you at the next train station down south. Can you find someone to pretend to ask for directions?”

_“No, there’s nobody around,”_ Naruto knows this is likely the case in that area, but it was worth a shot. _“It’s okay,”_ Sasuke reassures, _“I can see the station now, just one more street and I’ll-”_

Suddenly, Naruto hears a sharp inhale, then, as soon as that happens, the line goes dead.

“Sasuke!? Hey!” Naruto looks at his screen, and sees that the call has ended. He tries calling back twice, thrice, and reaches nothing but a dial tone every time.

_Shit!_

Knowing something is up, Naruto drops the delivery bag and immediately starts running.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :OOOOOO
> 
> oh no
> 
> please leave a nice comment or two x
> 
> ps: i know it looks like im increasing the no. of chapters, but im really just adding an interlude and an epilogue... so yay?
> 
> pps: i am watching youtube videos of spiderman for research...fight scenes are sooooo hard!! :( i hope i dont disappoint everyone
> 
> ppps: did anyone guess sasuke’s high school porn preference yet HAHA


	4. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: hints of kidnapping

Orochimaru is standing near the window inside his office. The building is opaque from the outside, but he can see everything that happens beyond these four walls.

He’s spent a long time building up his empire, and he’s not going to let it go down because of a nosy detective, or a silly boy that got his powers because of his _own_ creations.

He has plans to…get _around_ them.

Flipping his long hair behind his shoulder, the leader of Oto heads to the side table under a large painting of skulls and vultures. There’s a large case sitting on it covered by dark velvet curtains, keeping any and all the light out.

Orochimaru grins as he gets closer, face barely concealing the thrill. He gets right in front of the case to sweep one curtain aside, just a hair, to inspect his precious handiwork: the creature rests in the dark corner, glowing bright red on its body and blue on its long legs – all eight of them. He can’t resist its beauty, so he taps his long nail on the glass, just once, hoping that it will wake up.

After a moment, one leg twitches.

Orochimaru tries again. Three taps this time.

All of a sudden, the creature leaps onto the glass right in front of his face. Its fangs snap incessantly, eight beady eyes seemingly glaring at him with contempt.

Someone knocks on his door, and Orochimaru bids farewell to his prized creation before closing the curtain.

Kabuto enters.

“What is it?” Orochimaru asks.

“Specimen C and D did not survive the bite, Sir.”

Orochimaru shakes his head.

“Same as the previous two?”

“The mutations were different, but yes, they did not last long,” Kabuto explains. As though sensing his boss’s souring mood, he quickly adds, “But Sir, we also have good news.”

“Do go on.”

“We’ve just finished the final stages of the anti-venom experiment. This version is working well on all our other specimens. The ability to spin webs or release venom is decreased by an average of 89%, an increase from all our previous prototypes.”

Orochimaru hums, pleased.

“Very nice. We shall use it quite soon then.”

“Yes, I believe we will.”

He waves his hand and expects Kabuto to leave, but the bespectacled man doesn’t. Instead, he continues.

“Another thing, Sir,” he points to the office’s floor-to-ceiling window, “the guards saw somebody suspicious lurking outside the building taking pictures. They chased after him without my instructions and took him to the _safe room…_ ” he says with two fingers in the air as inverted commas.

Orochimaru raises an elegant eyebrow.

“So?”

“…So, I think you’d better see who it is.”

Orochimaru gives his personal assistant a considering look, and decides, out of curiosity, to find out.

“What was this little mouse doing near the snake’s den, hm?” Orochimaru asks, licking his lips as he looks at the unconscious figure on the chair.

“What should we do, Sir?”

“Well, the guards can be dismissed… _permanently_ ,” and he knows that Kabuto understands what that means, “but since we already have what we have, let’s make full use of him, shall we? I’m sure Detective Uchiha and I can come to some sort of agreement now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im done with most of the writing, and i think i have enough chapters to post one everyday until christmas!!!! 
> 
> also, what do you think will happen next?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it’s my very first time writing crime or fight scenes so please forgive me if anything is unrealistic. I tried my best and I do hope that you enjoy will it.
> 
> warnings: kidnapping and hostage situation. there will be guns and mentions of drug/ human trafficking and human experiments. please skip if uncomfortable!

When Naruto arrives at the courthouse, he rushes in, not bothering about the throngs of crowds gathering for their cases. Luckily, detective Uchiha Itachi stands right outside the first courtroom, just about to enter. Naruto doesn’t even think about how he recognises the man so instantly, nor does he have time to consider the superior genes in Sasuke’s family, because in that moment, Naruto runs over and starts blurting about Oto and footsteps and the train station.

“Wait, what is this about? Who are _you_?”

“There’s no time for introductions, god damn it! Sasuke’s in danger!”

As soon as Naruto mentions his brother, Itachi’s confused face turns gravely stern.

“Tell me everything. Now.”

It is when they arrive at the station that they receive a timely call from Sasuke’s phone to the landline on Itachi’s desk. Naruto heads towards the phone but immediately gets a hand signal to stay back. He follows the command just as Itachi nods to his partner who is already seated behind the table.

“Trace it.”

The other detective is very tall and dark and looks like he has very sharp teeth like Suigetsu, which is uncommon. But Naruto doesn’t bother to wonder if they’re related, because, as the phone rings for the fifth time, the older Uchiha answers it on loudspeaker.

“This is a message for Uchiha Itachi,” says a low gravelly voice; in fact, it sounds almost sneering. Naruto’s neck tingles uncomfortably. “If he wants his cute little brother back, stop looking into the disappearance of the twins.” Itachi turns to his partner who catches his eye at the same time, silent exchange not missed by Naruto.

“Where is Sasuke?” Itachi demands an answer.

“Stop looking into the twins,” the voice repeats.

“How do I know you haven’t already done something to him?”

“Sasuke’s in dreamland for now,” the voice says in a sing-song manner; Naruto can see Itachi’s fingers clench into a fist, “If you want to see him again, stop looking into the twins and the others.”

“Where-”

The voice doesn’t let Itachi continue.

“I know you people can trace the call. You’re probably doing it right now anyway. Oh, and one more thing,” a pause, “we want Spiderman. ”

Naruto stiffens when he hears the name of his alter-ego. He’s disturbed at the possibility of being found out by someone other than the three people who already know it’s him.

“I don’t know who he is,” replies Itachi, “Nobody does.”

“I don’t care. Use your resources. Come alone to deliver Spiderman. We want him unconscious. Only then will you see Sasuke.”

The caller hangs up.

Itachi slams the phone in its bracket, startling the other two in the room.

“He’s near the warehouses by the docks,” the other detective says after a bit; a recognisable attempt to placate his partner. 

“The docks by Gaten bridge?” Naruto quickly clarifies, before noticing Itachi steady himself with a deep breath.

“Naruto,” he says, “Thanks for letting us know of the situation, but I will need you to leave now.” He seems to sense Naruto’s hesitation, and then adds, “We will call you when we get Sasuke.” 

“But who are the twins?” Naruto blurts again. He knows they have something to do with the people that took Sasuke, so he’s determined to find out.

Itachi now turns his entire body to Naruto, clearly emanating waves of displeasure.

“Well, that’s _classified_ information.”

Naruto refuses to back down. He tilts his chin up in defiance.

“Well Sasuke is still in danger, and I want to help,” he repeats himself, “So, who are the twins? What have they got to do with Sasuke?”

Itachi and his partner don’t appear like they’re about to share anything with him, because they blatantly ignore him and start whispering over the desk. The gears in Naruto’s head spin for a bit, amidst the panic and annoyance, and he finally decides on his action plan.

What he says next to the two older men obviously catches them off guard, because Itachi is now staring at him with the most astonished expression. Naruto feels a little vindicated.

“You have to let me help,” he had challenged them, “because only _I_ know where to find Spiderman.”

X0X0X0X

It’s been almost three hours since he last heard from Sasuke.

Earlier, after he told the detectives he knew where to get Spiderman, they were more willing to listen. Though still a bit sceptical at first, Naruto managed to convince them that the web-slinging superhero is a family friend he grew up with. He even detailed the one-on-one exchanges he had with some other police counterparts during his crime fighting as Spiderman, and Itachi verified this information with his respective colleagues.

Itachi finally explains the situation with the twins – they were mid-rank gang bangers who knew the inner workings of Oto’s shady drug business. They became valuable informants for the police, until they suddenly disappeared without a trace two months ago.

After long deliberation, Itachi finally agreed to let Naruto contact Spiderman to meet them at the docks (definitely not unconscious as requested). Naruto is confident that Spiderman can get to Sasuke before anything happens, but he doesn’t tell Itachi this, because the man is still busy trying to figure a way to bring in the cavalry without Oto hurting Sasuke. 

Naruto quickly arrives at his destination. The sky is already dark by then, the moon and stars well-hidden behind looming storm clouds. At this angle, he can see the huge suspension bridge out of reach in the background.

At the west side of the area, on top of an abandoned warehouse, Naruto is perched on the roof ridge. The night is cold, freezing even. In the single layer of spandex, Naruto’s teeth should have been chattering, but they aren’t, because his red and blue suit has a handy heat tech function that Kakashi installed to keep his ass warm amidst the approaching winter.

All the buildings look similar in the dark; some roofs are made of glass for daylight to enter, others are covered in steel sheets. Even so, most of them have had poor maintenance over the years, so there are gaping holes in many. Naruto’s still not sure quite which one Sasuke is in, and there’s hardly any light around the area to help, except the flickering street lamps that don’t do much.

The stupid radioactive spider didn’t give him night vision, which he always thought would have been extremely helpful, but it sure did give him a heightened sensitivity to mild vibrations. He leaps from warehouse to warehouse, scaling the walls and looking through openings where there are some, and feeling for movement in the walls where there are none. But there’s still no sign of his friend.

Finally, he feels the tingle in his neck, followed by some rustling coming several warehouses away. He scuttles towards the source, jumping then landing on the roof of another dilapidated storage unit, and watches from above.

Two men are walking, on their way towards the warehouse opposite the one Naruto is on. The men are both big and burly, one walking with an arrogant swagger, and the other holding a bag of takeout.

“I heard the big boss is almost here,” takeout man tells his partner, “If he’s coming down personally for this one, the boy must be special.”

“Pssh, you know they say the boss likes the young and pretty ones. He’s probably here to _play_ with him for a bit.”

They both snigger at the comment, and Naruto clenches his jaw.

He continues spying as the two blokes reach the side door of the opposite storage unit. Swagger man gives two slow raps and three quick ones in succession. A second later, the door opens and they’re let in.

Sasuke’s probably in there.

Naruto surveys the building again. It’s one of the more intact ones in the area; it has an almost complete metal frame around roof, but the panes are made of glass. There are no windows, so he has two options: he could either knock on the side door with the code and enter immediately, or he could see what he’s up against first and wait until the police are here.

Having decided on the latter, Naruto jumps down and sprints towards the building. He’s light on his feet, darkness hiding him from prying eyes. He climbs up the side of the building like the little spider that he is, reaching the edge of the slanted roof in no time. Hidden in a bottom corner, he leans in for a peek.

Naruto can only see the left side of the rectangular building from where he’s peeping, but the expanse of the warehouse is astounding: Although the entire structure looks only just over two-storeys tall, it is actually divided into three shorter levels inside, each connected by a flight of stairs. The few vertical columns down and concrete floors across each level form squares that line up into grids, a little like jail cells but without bars. Each square is exposed; if one were to fall off the side they’ll plunge to the ground. Naruto shifts a bit more and sees that deep inside each segregated space, there are shelves and racks for storing things. But now, they’re obviously empty.

At the bottom level of the warehouse, there is a huge area. There stands about ten men, already armed or weapons at least within reach. Some are standing and milling around, some are seated around a circular table in the middle of the warehouse. There are opened packets of takeout and a large metal briefcase on it. It doesn’t take Naruto long to locate Sasuke amidst the figures – his friend is seated on one of the chairs just off the side of the table. His head lays to the side, arms tied behind the chair. He looks asleep.

Naruto waits for all heads inside to look down or ahead, then scuttles up the many glass panels on the slanted roof. He climbs onto the thick metal ridge that sits at the top, one that spans the entire length of the building; it’s just wide enough to hide his body while giving him a good vantage point for spying.

In that moment, the skin on his neck prickles. He feels movement before he even hears anything, tiny vibrations sending strong signals up the nerves of his fingers. A car eventually speeds by and stops in front of the building. Naruto waits, and then sees a long-haired man entering the warehouse. He wears a white coat, like a lab coat but glossier. Behind him, a shorter, grey-haired man pushing up his glasses.

All the seated men stand up to greet them with a bow, but the tall man in front waves them off. He heads directly towards Sasuke and bends down in front of him to stare. Then, the man straightens his back to circle the chair for one round, as though he’s inspecting goods for sale.

Lightning flashes across the sky in a streak of light. Naruto jerks in shock and hides himself back on the ridge. His entire body is tingling with the premonition of rain. When the loud echo of thunder passes, Naruto looks back inside. The long-haired man now has his hand on Sasuke’s chin, tilting his face left and right. The movement must have jerked Sasuke awake, because Naruto sees him struggle beneath his ropes in a futile attempt to get out.

Fury boils hot in his bones. Itachi better be on his way, because Naruto is done waiting around.

X0X0X0X

Sasuke’s head is pounding. It’s actually worse than that time he got a concussion from the Judo nationals in high school. There’s a musty smell around him, just like the old attic in his grandmother’s house that they never cleaned out.

He hears some noises, someone talking. It gets louder as he regains consciousness, like coming up from underwater.

“…such a fine specimen,” the unfamiliar voice says. It sounds thin, breathy but a slow, creepy drawl. And it sounds way too close.

Sasuke scrunches his face, swallowing a lump in his parched throat.

“What would you like to do, Sir?” Another voice asks, this time further away.

“Hm, if we can’t get Spiderman tonight, I want to keep him.”

“I’m sure Detective Uchiha will not be pleased about that.”

Sasuke tries not to move at the mention of Naruto or his brother, but he can’t help but jerk when he hears the sudden clap of thunder.

“It’s punishment for not giving me what I want,” the creepy one says. “He does not have to like it. Plus we have a shipment going out tonight, so we can just send this one along with it. I’d really like to get those Uchiha genes under my microscope.”

Sasuke sees beneath his eyelids a shadow loom over him, before he feels fingers grab his chin.

“Anyway, that’s for later. I think this one is awake.” 

Sasuke opens his eyes, slowly adjusting to the dim indoor lighting. He clenches his jaw tight, fighting the wave of nausea from his throbbing head.

“Uchiha Sasuke,” the sinister voice calls out to him, hissing on the initials of his first name. The owner of the voice is standing right in front of him and gripping onto his face. The creepy man has long black hair, yellow eyes almost in slits like a snake. They stare intently at Sasuke, like they’re observing prey.

“Who are you?” Sasuke croaks, voice hoarse. The long nails are sharp and digging painfully into his cheeks. For a moment, he thinks of Naruto and his scars, and wonders where he is.

But that thought leaves as quickly as it comes, replaced by tendrils of fear when the man leans in to breathe in his ear.

“I’m Orochimaru.”

Sasuke struggles to twist his head out of the grasp. Instead, the fingers only tighten. Through the awkward position of his neck, Sasuke quickly eyeballs the room, noticing the crowd of men in the old warehouse they are in. It’s unfamiliar, deserted, and very, very cold. It doesn’t take him long to connect the dots.

“What the fuck do you want?” he grits through his teeth.

“Hm, what do I want indeed,” Orochimaru ponders. His breath is disgusting on Sasuke’s skin, making Sasuke lean back as far as his binds allows him to.

“Don’t be shy, boy, I’m sure we can get well _acquainted_ in no time,” Sasuke can almost hear the sneer in Orochimaru’s voice.

“Why do you want Spiderman?” Sasuke asks this time, trying to stall whatever the other has planned.

Finally, Orochimaru lets go of his face. Brushing his coat, he turns around, back facing Sasuke.

“Because I want the powers he stole from me,” he answers.

Sasuke frowns, puzzled.

“He didn’t steal anything. The news say he was bitten by a damn spider!”

Orochimaru barks out a sharp laugh then turns to glare at him.

“That was _my_ spider.”

Sasuke tries to make sense of the situation.

“So you went around trashing clinics just to get Spiderman’s attention?”

Orochimaru tuts, then turns back around to pace the area.

“No, that’s just a lesson for imbeciles who owe me. Plus,” he explains, “a distraction for your brother to get off my back about other things.”

Sasuke snorts. Obviously that didn’t work, and he tells Orochimaru as much.

“Don’t get cocky, boy. You’re fresh meat, but I’m not beyond grinding you to dust,” the man threatens.

“I’ve been gone for too long. Itachi is probably on his way,” Sasuke hopes. They jumped him when he was on the phone with Naruto, and he did mention Itachi at the court house, so hopefully his friend managed to find his brother.

“Yeah and hopefully with Spiderman tagging along.” Orochimaru hums gleefully, making Sasuke worry. He’s sure that Orochimaru doesn’t know that Naruto is Spiderman, and that Sasuke _knows_ it’s him. Even if Naruto is likely to come as the masked superhero to save him, his kidnapper shouldn’t be this happy about it, right?

“Why would Spiderman come for _me_?” He asks, wanting to find out why.

“Oh, I told your detective brother to deliver him to me if he wants to see you alive.”

In that moment, Sasuke tenses. He realises that either way, he is inadvertently leading Naruto right into the hands of his captor.

“Fucking freak,” he spits at the older man, “What are you going to do with him?”

“If you continue to be rude, I’ll let you get bitten by my radioactive spider too,” Orochimaru continues, “see how your cells implode from within. I’ll just sip on some red wine while you bleed to death from your orifices.”

“Why would I bleed? I’d just-”

“Just what?” Orochimaru gives a scoff. “You thought you’d be slinging web just because you’re bitten by _my_ spider?” Beside him, the one with glasses rolls his eyes, but doesn’t interrupt.

“I’ve been trying to recreate Spiderman since the day he appeared on the streets,” the long-haired male continues explaining, “But guess what happens to all the specimens?”

Sasuke recalls the ominous threat of death by spider. Realisation dawns upon him.

“…that’s why you need him. He’s the only one that survived.”

Orochimaru laughs again. His slow, sarcastic claps reverberate through the empty warehouse.

“What a genius, just like your brother,” he hums, “It’s great that you’re not following him in his footsteps and joining the police.

“Though, there’s something that’s puzzling me,” Orochimaru taps his chin, thinking, “If you’re not a detective, what were _you_ doing sneaking around my building? Taking pictures and all that.”

Sasuke looks to the side and chooses not to answer. Seeing his defiance, the grey haired male steps forward instantly and kicks his chair.

“Answer him!”

Sasuke prides himself in not jumping this time, choosing instead to glare at his assailant who is returning the scowl.

“Kabuto,” Orochimaru shushes his second-in-command, “Let him talk. If he doesn’t, I’ll let you kick him later.” Orochimaru turns to look expectantly at Sasuke, and Sasuke knows better than to tell him the truth. His brain runs through all the excuses that seem the most probable and will not draw attention to his knowledge of Spiderman.

But, before any of the lies even leave his mouth, there is a loud knock resounding through the large space. Followed by another one, then three quick ones. They’re coming from the entrance on Sasuke’s right, about thirty feet away.

Everyone looks to the door. Silence rings through the air.

“Did one of you go and get more food?” Kabuto questions the guys in the warehouse. Some shuffle their feet, some shrug. Sasuke sees Kabuto narrow his eyes behind his glasses, only to look back at Orochimaru as though seeking permission. The leader looks at him for a second, then tilts his head towards the door.

Like a dog on command, Kabuto walks briskly to the metal door. Two latches undone, he pokes his head out, pulls the door open wider, then steps out into the night till Sasuke cannot see him anymore.

Then, they wait.

Sasuke takes this time to scan the warehouse again: He’s seated somewhere in the middle of the large space. Beside him is a round table. Along the length of the atrium are huge columns of equal neighbouring distance; he counts a total of six. They span vertically from the ground to the ceiling over the three floors. There are yellow lamps at the top of each column, illuminating the warehouse so poorly such that it would have made no difference even if they weren’t there. 

In the rightmost corner sits a protruding lift shaft that goes up all three levels, but the barricade tape all over clearly announces its broken state. Still, one can use the stairs that lead up the floors in a diagonal fashion. Sasuke follows the steps with his eyes, scanning all the empty shelves on each level, then eventually sees the roof - there is nothing but darkness beyond those glass panes.

Worried, he looks down at the ropes around his chest. He wriggles around in them again, but gives up when they simply won’t budge. He really hopes that someone on their way to save him.

“Jirobu,” Orochimaru calls out suddenly, to which Sasuke turns to see a big bald guy stand up from his seat. It is then that Sasuke realises that Kabuto has not yet returned.

With the body of a club bouncer, but also a tummy that must have come from one too many beers, Jirobu swaggers towards the exit after Orochimaru’s silent command to trace Kabuto’s footsteps.

Just before Jirobu steps out of the opened door, a shout comes from outside, halting him in his movements. The sound is followed by some muffled rustling.

Then, silence again.

Jirobu clicks his tongue and regains his pace. But he doesn’t get far.

Because all of a sudden, something comes propelling at the burly man. It sends him flying backwards through at least half the warehouse, where the projectile and him both land and hit the floor together.

Everyone blinks. Once. Twice. Including Sasuke.

Then, his mouth drops open.

Lying on the ground is Kabuto in a mess of limbs. His face bashed up and his round glasses, in pieces.

“What the-” Somebody says, but nobody gets to finds out what the rest of that sentence is.

Because immediately after that, there is chaos.

Everyone starts moving at the same time, but whoever is outside is faster.

Sasuke sees two lines of web shooting in from the entrance. They catch two gang members standing nearest to the door, flinging them apart onto a column on each side. After smashing into the concrete, the men stay on the ground, obviously knocked out.

In the next moment, a red and blue figure enters.

It’s Naruto.

Almost immediately, two men charge towards him like bulls locked on a red flag, one after another.

With both arms out front, Naruto ducks from a punch from the first guy and returns the gesture with a left hook to the torso. His attacker groans, but is relentless; he tries to hit Naruto again with both fists, but the latter quickly side steps to avoid.

With his gloved fingers, Naruto grabs the guy’s shoulder from the side, then propels himself into the air. He keeps his hold on the shoulder as his legs go up in a gymnastic flip. With gravity as his aid, Naruto then lets himself get pulled back down the other side, only to send the guy in his hands flying up and over his head. The soaring body crashes into the second man behind just as Naruto steadies himself back on all fours. Both bodies tumble across the floor in a mangled heap.

Staying in a crouch, Naruto looks up. Another big guy is standing over him. This time, with a gun.

“Got you!”

Naruto reacts immediately, leaning his right hand on the ground for balance. He sweeps a flying kick up and under guy’s chin. As soon as the other freezes in pain, Naruto quickly twists his own body into a backward bend. He plants his palms firmly on the ground, elbows pointing up to the sky. Then, Naruto pushes himself off, both feet kicking the same chin as before, delivering a double blow that knocks the gunman over. Landing on the guy’s chest, Naruto grabs the gun and flings it up, plastering it with his octagon web shooter to the highest point on the column.

Hurriedly, Naruto does two more back flips to put a safe distance between himself and his enemies. For a moment, Sasuke can see him looking around, scanning the area, so he tilts his neck back and shouts across the table.

“Here!”

Immediately, Naruto spins to face him. 

“Got it!” he yells back.

Orochimaru barks out a frantic order.

“Get him!”

In an instant, three men wedge in between Sasuke and Naruto, guns raised in aim.

In a blur of action, Naruto swiftly disarms the tallest one with his web. The gun is thrown high up onto the third floor, over and out of reach. Even from the back of his head, Sasuke can tell that the tall guy is stunned; he’s staring up, arms frozen in midair. But there’s no time for Naruto to watch: the other two guys are already shooting.

Evading the bullets as nimbly as his body allows, Naruto ducks down and slides to the side. He seizes one of the shooting man’s arm from the back, but the idiot resists. In the struggle, the gun ends up pointing up. Glass shatter, and the noise echoes loud within the empty compound.

“Sasuke! Be careful!” Naruto warns with a shout. Sasuke flinches to hide his face as diamond shards pour down like rain.

The shooting doesn’t stop, shattering more and more of the glass roof. It is only at least ten shots later that the downpour of shards finally stops. Squinting an eye open, Sasuke peeks.

With a vice grip still around the gunman’s wrist, Naruto now has the weapon firing down to the ground. The strength of Naruto’s yanking must have unbalanced the gunman, because he stumbles over his own two feet. Then, faster than his eyes can follow, Sasuke realises that Naruto has somehow manipulated one man to face the other; both guys are now shooting unwittingly at each other, and in no time, they drop to the floor like flies. 

The first man who got his gun thrown away finally regains composure. He grabs a knife from his cargo pants, and starts charging at Naruto.

But Naruto seems to have sensed it right away; he turns and charges right back, running head on towards the tall guy coming at him.

From his position, Sasuke sees Naruto shoot a line up as he runs. His friend lifts himself with both arms into a pendulum swing and narrowly avoids the sweeping blade to his left. Staying a few feet above ground, Naruto keeps both feet pointed in the air like a kid would on a playground swing, and continues swinging until he comes back full circle. Once in range, his extended legs gets the guy right in the chest. The man tumbles and falls with a loud wail, accidentally stabbing himself in the thigh.

Naruto continues swinging a second round, only half a circle this time, but over and across the table to slam directly into the last guard left standing next to Sasuke. The man careens right into Orochimaru just behind, who, together, falls into a heap.

“Are you okay?” Naruto asks mid-air, still on the tail-end of his swing. Sasuke quickly nods.

“I’m-”

“Oh shit, you’re bleeding!” Naruto exclaims as he lands. He scrambles to get closer to Sasuke, voice rising in panic.

Sasuke isn’t aware that he is hurt, until he feels Naruto cup his cheek to inspect the wound. He flinches at the sharp pain on his face, but sucks in a deep breath to control it.

“It’s okay, I’m okay,” Sasuke replies through his clenched jaw.

Naruto lets out another curse under his breath. He shoots a web to grab the knife from the man’s bleeding leg. Once the weapon is in hand, Naruto gets behind Sasuke to cut his rope loose.

Hearing some shuffling, Sasuke looks around. His eyes land on Jirobu who is stirring just a short distance away from them. The oversized fellow stands and shakes his head for a bit, obviously still finding his bearings after being knocked down by a flying Kabuto.

“Naruto,” Sasuke whispers under his breath, “the big one is up again.” The knots loosen around his wrist, leading to the ropes falling into his lap. Naruto comes back around to squat in front of him again, but his head is also facing the waking giant.

“Right,” Naruto replies, turning back to Sasuke, “Can you run?”

Sasuke nods. He doesn’t think his legs are hurt.

“Okay, when I go after the big guy, I want you to get out of here immediately,” when Sasuke frowns, he continues, “Trust me, I’ll follow right behind you. Just run as fast as you can, okay? Itachi should be on his way.”

Sasuke gives another nod.

But, to their horror, when they look up, Jirobu is nowhere in sight.

And neither is Orochimaru.

“Shit!” Naruto turns around to quickly survey the surroundings.

Sasuke joins in to glance around frantically, but they’re nowhere to be seen.

“Never mind, just go! Now!” Naruto cries, lifting Sasuke off the chair and shoving him towards the door. “I’ll look for them!”

Sasuke sweeps the glass shards off his shirt and jeans, then makes a run for it. There’s a blinding flash above him that’s quickly followed by a thunderous boom. Soon, the pitter patter of raindrops fall through the gaping roof, splattering on his skin. The storm gets heavier and louder as he runs, and Sasuke winces again, this time, from the water entering his open wounds.

 _Will Naruto be okay?_ He thinks as he keeps his legs moving.

But he soon realises that turning around to check is a big mistake. Because in that instant, he all but crashes into somebody in front.

Sasuke gets spun right round as an arm snakes across his chest. The person behind traps him in a chokehold, making him stop in his tracks, pushing his head up to the ceiling. This position feels all too familiar, memories of his Judo training returning in his muscles.

Taking a wide stance with his feet, Sasuke’s just about to flip his attacker over his shoulder, when he notices a flicker from the corner of his eye.

It’s a knife.

Sasuke freezes.

“Move and you will bleed,” Orochimaru breathes into his ear.

Reluctant but cautious with self-preservation, Sasuke stops moving.

Despite the other having the upper hand, Sasuke can sense that Orochimaru is struggling to keep a hold on him – the arm that is caging him slips from time to time, what with the storm getting heavier. But every time Sasuke thinks he can wriggle out, Orochimaru stands firm; the man is still taller and actually has strength that his lanky frame belies. Sasuke curses as Orochimaru turns their bodies to face the entirety of the warehouse. Sasuke blinks and blinks to get the rainwater away, trying to focus on what’s happening in front. 

Through the blur, he can see someone scaling the external walls of the lift shaft on their far right. It must be Naruto getting to higher ground to look for the two remaining men.

“Oh Spiderman~, look what I have here,” Orochimaru taunts aloud.

On the wall, Naruto turns his head so fast that Sasuke’s worried about whiplash. Naruto quickly finds them through the rain – Sasuke can see the white eye patches on the front side of Naruto’s mask facing them. He doesn’t want to consider the expression his friend is wearing under it.

Seemingly realising the predicament Sasuke is in, Naruto naturally attempts to move forward.

But Orochimaru raises the knife closer to Sasuke’s face, and Naruto hesitates. 

“Let go of him!” Naruto shouts back, but Orochimaru only laughs.

“If you want him to live, come down _now_ ,” the leader of Oto orders, voice booming even louder than the clap of thunder.

Sasuke blinks the rain away again, trying to see through his wet lashes.

In a clear moment, he suddenly notices a shadow in a corner: Jirobu is on the second level directly opposite of where Naruto is; he is squatting behind a column on the left end of the warehouse. The metal briefcase is open next to him, and his grubby fingers are swiftly loading a long tube of green swooshing liquid into a silver rifle

That does not look good. Sasuke readies his breath,

“He’s over-”

But Sasuke’s warning gets cut off as Orochimaru tightens his hold on his trachea.

Sasuke watches in horror as the green tube fits snugly in the middle of the long rifle barrel, just above the trigger. Jirobu braces his fat finger on it, then turns to look at Orochimaru through the downpour.

Eyes shifting to Naruto, Sasuke realises that Naruto is still staring intently in his direction, complete unaware of what’s happening on the other side. Naruto’s head is moving in tiny movements, as though calculating the shortest distance to get here.

_Shit! Naruto, don’t come here. Please don’t!_

Sasuke tries to yell out again, but only feels the blade pressing into the skin on his jaw. Desperate, he tries to raise his hands in Jirobu’s direction, hoping that Naruto will see it faster than Orochimaru realises.

X0X0X0X

Naruto is too high up on the slippery walls, fingers threatening to skid from the rain. The suit keeps water out, but with rain this heavy, even he has to wipe his mask every now and then. 

Sasuke is right at the bottom with the snake guy holding him hostage. He is too far out of reach, and he has a sharp blade pointed at him.

Naruto curses.

Sasuke is about a hundred yards away. If Naruto jumps onto the next column then swings for two or three rounds, he should be close enough to grab the knife with his web. But if he slips, it will take much longer to reach there.

Naruto sees his friend struggling again, arms flailing in the tight hold, and he considers no more.

He leaps into the air, thighs straining from the push off the wet surface. As his arms reach out for the neighbouring column, a quick tingle suddenly travels down his neck: he _senses_ something moving to his far right, and the bad feeling is soon followed by the sound of a gentle whoosh. Naruto tries to twist his body in mid-air but it doesn’t help; it’s too late to get away. 

Something lodges painfully in his right shoulder blade, through the material of his suit, and he flinches in the air. For a moment, he prays that it’s not a gunshot, because even the suit is not made to protect him against that.

Changing his plans quickly, Naruto shoots web immediately instead of continuing onward to the next column. He drops into another familiar swing, hissing at the pain in his shoulder. With his free hand, he reaches behind to feel for the thing that hit him; he grabs it, yanks it out with a painful grunt, then brings it up in front of his face – it’s a tube with some liquid in there, but there’s not much left. Not in the right mind to figure out what it is, he just flings it aside to bring that same arm up to shoot another line.

“Why is it not working!” He hears someone yell. Naruto gets a little more worried now, but there’s no time. With each alternating swing, he’s getting close.

Finally in range, Naruto lifts his right hand in aim for the knife, but, is dumbfounded when no web comes out from his wrist. He immediately moves his middle and ring fingers to aim for the wrist shooter with spare web. But his finger wouldn’t budge. Panicking, he tries again, and this time, it’s worse: his whole arm drops like a dead weight next to his swinging body.

_Shit!_

With the numbness now growing up his swinging arm, Naruto inevitably lets go of the web, only to crash onto the ground below him. He lands in a puddle with a loud splash, groaning at the angle at which his head hits the cement. Pins and needles are now spreading across his entire back.

“Jirobu, come and get him!”

Naruto's body is throbbing together with his head, and he is suddenly having trouble focusing. He gets light-headed, eyes threatening to roll back in their sockets.

But, in that instant, he remembers.

Sasuke is still in trouble.

With all the effort in the world, Naruto forces his eyelids apart and twists his head to look at his friend – Sasuke is still in the man’s hold, but he looks utterly terrified. His dark eyes are blown wide in terror, his mouth is saying something. But Naruto can’t hear anything except the ringing in his ears.

Naruto groans at the numbing pain in his upper body. Before his legs end up in the same state, Naruto does his best to manoeuvre himself in an awkward twist, nudging his arm out from under his ear. Lifting his wrist as much as he can, he points at the knife holding Sasuke hostage. He then brings his knee up into a sideway squat and presses down hard on the button of the web shooter.

Despite his drowsy state and the pouring rain, he still has good aim – the octagon web hits the hand with the knife and sends it swinging back, the weapon skidding across the floor.

Naruto sees Sasuke freeze for a moment.

But his friend very quickly realises what’s happening, then seizes the chance to do a beautiful Judo throw: Sasuke flings his attacker up and over his shoulder, flips, and finishes the move with his entire back slamming down onto the guy’s chest.

As soon as that happens, Naruto’s vision starts going blurry. The last thing he sees is Sasuke running towards him.

Then, everything goes dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!! 
> 
> we're almost at the end now...! 
> 
> leave a nice and/or helpful comment? x


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto blinks his eyes open very slowly, pupils adjusting to the fluorescent light on the ceiling. He smells the strong antiseptic and knows right away that he’s in the hospital. There’s a steady beep to his left, probably his oxygen saturation and heartbeat readings on the tiny monitor.

He tries to move, but his entire body is aching, limbs heavy with the weight of stones. Why is he aching? Wait, why is he even in the hospital?

Suddenly, the events at the warehouse come flooding into his brain.

Frantic, Naruto jerks upright in his bed.

“Sasuke!” He cries out.

His shout startles a figure that has been resting face down on the edge of his bed. 

On his right in the visitor chair, Sasuke is now mirroring his posture – he’s sitting ramrod straight wearing a dumb look, dark hair sticking up on ends even more so than usual. Naruto notices a few translucent bandaids on his friends’s usually flawless face, and his heart drops.

But, apart from looking stunned, overall Sasuke seems okay. He looks exhausted, though, and he also has some bruises on his neck, but he doesn’t look obviously hurt or anything. Naruto’s glad. Still, he asks,

“Are you okay?”

He sees Sasuke’s chest rise and, for a moment, thinks that the guy is going to yell at him for waking him up.

But he doesn’t.

Instead, his friend stands to step forward and pulls Naruto into a strong hug.

Now his turn to be startled, Naruto groans. He takes a while to regain himself, slowly getting used to the dull ache from Sasuke’s hold.

Still, Naruto feels very, very warm.

“Hey, hey. I’m not dead,” he chuckles, patting Sasuke lightly on the back, “I’m okay.”

Sasuke pulls back slowly, then drops back down in his chair.

Then, he proceeds to punch Naruto in the arm.

“Ow!" Naruto rubs the spot, pouting. "What was that for!"

"For scaring me!" Sasuke exclaims in distress, "You were out for two whole days! Iruka even came to visit.”

_Wow. Crap._

"Really?"

"Yes," Sasuke sighs, stooped in his seat, " _Really_. He’s gone back to grab some clothes for you. How are you feeling?”

“Okay, I think?” Naruto’s not very sure, “Just a bit tired. Though everything still hurts when I move.”

“Tsunade says the anti-venom should be out of your system soon. Then it should hurt less.”

Naruto cocks his head to the side.

“Tsunade? Anti-venom?”

“Yeah, the stuff you were shot with. It was supposed to remove your Spiderman powers,” Sasuke explains, “Luckily for us there was another vial in the briefcase. Doctor Tsunade had it sampled and made an antidote.”

The last few moments at the warehouse finally make much more sense now.

“Right. Okay. That’s good," Naruto nods, "What happened after I passed out, anyway?" 

"Thank goodness Itachi came just in time. He burst in with Kisame and the others just moments after you fainted."

"So Oto is done for?"

At the mention of the gang, Sasuke's expression suddenly changes; he looks away from Naruto and mumbles quietly, "Yeah, I guess so."

It’s a bit puzzling, unsettling even.

"Why do you sound like that? Shouldn’t we be happy?" Naruto asks, bending down to try to read Sasuke's eyes. But his friend continues looking away and doesn’t say anything. Naruto sees Sasuke pick at the frays of his ripped jeans, a nervous habit that Naruto has noticed since they got closer. 

Playfully, he pokes Sasuke in the thigh, attempting to ease the tension.

“Anyway, I hope you don’t end up with whiskers like me,” he jokes with a friendly jibe. But when Sasuke doesn’t even respond, Naruto worries a bit more.

“Hey, are you sure you’re okay?” He tries again.

This time, Sasuke replies.

“I’m sorry.”

Naruto is very confused.

“What?”

“I said I’m _sorry,_ " Sasuke almost yells, then immediately composes himself with clenched fists. They're looking at each other now: Sauske's eyes are shimmering a little, almost red rimmed. Naruto feels something lodge in his throat. "I shouldn’t have gone to Oto on my own. _I_ 'm the one that got you hurt.” 

But that is the absolute last thing Naruto’s expecting. Quickly, he tries to brush it off.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m not even mad! Please don't be sorry.” But then Sasuke frowns even harder and Naruto stops to think.

Probably the wrong thing to say to someone who’s feeling guilty. He takes in a deep breath and sighs, collecting his thoughts.

“Okay fine, _yes_ , it was silly of you to go to such a shady place all by yourself," Naruto agrees, "But hey, we all do silly things every now and then. Besides, if Oto really wanted to get me, they would have come after me with or without you," he reasons. "Look,” he gestures to himself, “I’m mostly okay,” he points to Sasuke, “You’re mostly okay. And that’s all that matters.”

Sasuke still looks unconvinced, though his furrowed brows ease a a bit.

“And,” Naruto beams, patting Sasuke on his thigh, “No matter what, I’ll always find you in the end. So, your apology is unnecessary, but accepted, okay?”

Sasuke stares for a second too long, reeling from Naruto’s speech. Then, when Naruto retracts his hand from Sasuke’s leg, the latter looks down to play with his frays again. But Naruto knows better now. He just waits, smiling at Sasuke who’s still thinking of what to say.

Out of the blue, Sasuke looks up with some sort of resolve. Just as Naruto's about to ask for a penny for his thoughts, he grabs Naruto’s hand to rest it back in his lap.

With Naruto’s palm now facing up, Sasuke’s fingers slide over it slowly. The pads are rough from constant practice on the guitar, but Naruto pays no mind, because when their fingers interlock, his brain short circuits there and then. He wonders if he’s still woozy from being drugged and imagining things.

The surprise must have been written all over his face, because Sasuke hesitates. His grasp loosens at once.

“I mean- I just thought- is…is this okay?” Sasuke asks, now looking very uncertain. 

Still in a daze, Naruto shakes his head and immediately, Sasuke starts pulling away. But what Naruto actually means is that he _doesn’t_ mind and he _wants_ this too and-

“No! Don’t,” he quickly adds, snapping out of his stupor to keep their hands together, “Yes, _yes_ , of course it’s okay,” he confesses in a soft breath, “Stay.”

Thankfully, Sasuke nods after that.

"Yeah, alright.”

They stay like this for a while, hand in hand, just keeping each other company, and Naruto feels nothing but contentment. The warmth from the hug earlier returns to his body, lighting up a small fire in his chest. The aches in his limbs are gone, forgotten, replaced by tendrils of heat. He likes that Sasuke looks more relaxed now, much better compared to earlier when he looked constipated in guilt that Naruto knows he doesn’t deserve.

“I’m really glad that we’re both okay,” Naruto says out loud after a while, wanting nothing more than to comfort Sasuke again.

Sasuke replies him with a squeeze to his hand.

“Yeah, me too.”

Naruto hums.

After another comfortable pause, he drops into a whisper to continue,

“I meant what I said earlier, you know,” he says, caressing Sasuke’s thumb with his own.

“Hm?”

Naruto smiles, fond.

“I will always find you no matter what.”

Sasuke is now biting his lower lip, but he cannot hide the embarrassed smile forming on his face. He eyes Naruto with a flush creeping up his neck, and Naruto knows that they are both feeling the same kind of dizzy.

A sudden knock on the door startles them, interrupting the moment. Sasuke must think it's Iruka or something, because he tries to pull his hand away again.

Of course, Naruto doesn’t let him. 

“Are you sure you want this...?” Sasuke asks to make sure. He sounds really nervous. It's endearing, really. Naruto knows that they have yet to define what _this_ really means, let alone what and when to tell others, but hey, Naruto almost died. Life is too short to not hold onto what you love, especially when it's already literally in your hands.

So he simply nods, confident in his decision,

“Yeah, I’m sure. I really want this. Us. _Together._ ”

And with that, Sasuke's handsome face lights up with a relieved and hopeful smile. 

”Yeah, okay. Me too.”

Two seconds later, the door opens. It is actually Itachi that strides in alone, neat ponytail flowing behind his long black coat.

(Sasuke looks like he wasn't expecting his brother, but doesn't try to pull away again, and that's really all the assurance that Naruto needs.)

The older Uchiha sees their hands but doesn't comment on it. Evidently, he already has something else in mind. 

“So…you’re Spiderman.”

Naruto swallows, now fidgeting under the raised eyebrow of the taller man. _This feels awfully familiar_ , he thinks. Sasuke laughs knowingly, but pats Naruto on the back of his hand.

“He’s a detective,” Sasuke explains, “Plus, he sent you to the hospital personally to protect your identity. So it’s no surprise that he figured out who you are.”

Itachi hums in agreement, still standing at the end of the hospital bed.

“Both the head doctor and I know, actually.”

As though sensing Naruto’s panic at the revelation, Itachi elaborates. 

“Tsunade can be trusted. She’s seen a few cases for me and is the best person to investigate the anti-venom injected in your body. I promise that we will not let anyone know about your… _secret_.”

Eyes wide, Naruto looks to Sasuke for more reassurance. Sasuke simply smiles back at him.

“I think it’s good to have a doctor on your side.”

Itachi nods.

“ _And_ a detective.”

Naruto can’t say that isn’t true. Still, it’ll take him a while to get used to people _knowing_. Maybe, just maybe, it could be a good thing. Less lying, less sneaking around. 

“Anyway,” Itachi whips out his card and flings it over, “The next time my little brother is in any trouble, I expect you to call me immediately.”

With his free hand, Naruto shoots a flimsy line of web, nonetheless still catching the flying card. Sasuke leans over to look, curious too: on it is Itachi’s personal number written in a tiny scrawl.

Itachi clears his throat.

“ _Especially_ if the two of you are going to be dating.”

Naruto exchanges another quick look with Sasuke, and he's sure that the flush on their faces deepen. 

Itachi rolls his eyes at them, but he's smiling. 

“What happens to Oto now?” Naruto asks him later.

Itachi explains how Orochimaru and most of his gang are now in custody, so the police should have no issues getting a warrant to expose all of Oto’s other shady business.

“If you find a radioactive spider in there, destroy it,” Sasuke says. Naruto sends him a confused expression, to which Sasuke notices and explains,

“Orochimaru wanted to keep you for his experiments. It was his spider that gave you your powers,” Sasuke says. He goes on to describe how none of Oto’s test subjects had survived that spider's poison, so it’s best for the creature to be destroyed anyway.

“Apparently you’re the only Spiderman in the world,” Itachi says to Naruto, “And, like Sasuke, I think it's best to keep it that way.”

Naruto never asked for these powers, but, sometimes, in dangerous situations like the one they just experienced, Naruto is kind of glad that he has them.

“You may still need to come back for regular checks with Tsunade, though,” Itachi continues, “She’s hoping that there are no lasting side effects to the anti-venom or the antidote. Plus, she’s very keen on building up your body against any future...biological weapons made against you.”

Naruto looks at him quizzically, and the older guy just shrugs.

“What can I say? She’s a fan of Spiderman.”

Naruto feels quite honoured.

“Huh.”

“Yeah, you should see her office. She has newspaper clippings of you all over.”

There is utter silence in the room for a second, and then Sasuke asks,

“…Should I be worried about competition?”

Naruto bursts out laughing, body aching with every uncontrollable exhale.

“Sasuke, _please,_ ” Itachi looks completely unimpressed by his brother. He turns to Naruto with a shake of his head, “Don’t worry, she’s too old for you.” He tucks a loose fringe behind his ear and addresses Sasuke again.

“By the way, sooner or later we’ll need to have that chat about safety and why it’s a bad idea to go poking around,” he says pointedly, taking out his phone as he continues, “Also, with this new…development,” he nods towards their intertwined fingers, “I think it’s high time you restart those Judo lessons. Just in case.”

Sasuke protests but Itachi ignores him to make some quick taps on the phone screen.

“I’ve already booked you in for advance classes on Wednesday evenings. Just texted you the address.” When he’s done, Itachi quickly pockets the device and gives a self-satisfied smirk. “Just think of it as payment for getting into trouble and making me save you and your boyfriend’s ass.”

Sasuke groans in disbelief and angles away to back face Itachi like a stubborn child. Naruto shakes his head, laughing again at this new side of Sasuke. Itachi clicks his tongue, but the fond look he’s wearing clearly shows that he knows his brother will come around eventually.

When the detective finally leaves, Naruto tells Sasuke that he thinks Judo lessons are a great idea.

“Maybe you can be my superhero sidekick, Judoman!” he exclaims, probably very unhelpfully. Sasuke wears a humourless expression.

“The only ‘side kick’ I’m doing is the one to your butt.”

“Don’t be mean, Sasuke,” Naruto pouts. He feels a tad braver now that he’s gotten Itachi’s approval, so he adds cheekily, “I thought we’re dating now?”

“Says who?”

Naruto raises their hands up in the air, grinning from ear to ear.

“Says this!”

Sasuke rolls his eyes but doesn’t refute. Instead, he lets Naruto move his hand up to his lips for a gentle kiss, and he too, smiles.

X0X0X0X

Two days later, Naruto gets discharged from the hospital (he started healing exponentially when the anti-venom got fully expelled from his Spidey veins).

When Sasuke picks him up, Naruto doesn’t even pretend to be subtle anymore — he grabs Sasuke by the waist and hugs him.

“Hey. I missed you.”

“You just saw me yesterday,” Sasuke deadpans.

“Well, it felt like forever.”

 _Yeah_ , Sasuke thinks as he leans into Naruto, _it did_.

Bringing their hands together, Naruto says to him with a smile brighter than the sun,

“Come on, I want to bring you somewhere.”

They arrive at the roof of the city library. The sun is setting again and the city scape painted in beautiful dusk colours looks all too familiar. Except, Sasuke isn’t panicking this time and Naruto isn’t in his full Spidey suit. Not quite, anyway.

“It kind of began here, I think,” Naruto says quietly as he stares out into the sky. Sasuke knows what he’s talking about. Still, he can’t help but tease.

“What, did my panic attack do it for you?”

Naruto’s boisterous laugh is contagious, and Sasuke finds himself laughing along.

“Yeah, it probably did,” Naruto admits with his eyes shining bright, “Among other things.”

Sasuke hums. He stands next to Naruto, shoulder to shoulder, admiring the scenery too.

After a few moments, Naruto turns to him, hand still in his, and steps closer. He wears a soft expression, one that gives Sasuke butterflies and a heart that pounds harder against his ribs. Those crystal blue eyes appear dimmer in the shadow, but, with how close they’re standing, Sasuke can see that their pupils are dilated.

“Close your eyes,” Naruto says as he looks down at Sasuke’s lips.

The butterflies are now fluttering manically in Sasuke’s chest, heart beat resounding in his ears. He feels a little out of words, so he doesn’t answer. Instead, he squeezes Naruto’s hand and nods.

Then, with bated breath, he closes his eyes.

Naruto holds his cheek with his other hand, so gently, almost like he’s afraid Sasuke is going to break.

Then, in the next moment, Naruto’s lips touch his and stay for a second; it's soft, like a feathery touch. Eager to feel more, Sasuke lets go of Naruto’s hand to wind both arms around his neck, pulling him closer. 

He nips at Naruto’s lower lip, sucking lightly, before pushing his tongue in for the chase. When it finally intertwines with Naruto’s, sliding and dancing and twirling together, he hears someone let out a quiet moan.

(Sasuke thinks it’s him).

Naruto’s hands come to rest on his hips, mouth still hot and moving like molten lava against his. Losing his bearings a little, Sasuke pushes Naruto against the ledge and leans onto the hard planes of his body. Naruto gasps and tightens his grip, but Sasuke knows he isn’t about to let up: he feels Naruto sneak a hand behind and under his jacket, then under his shirt; the warm, calloused palm explores the expanse of skin on his back.

It makes Sasuke shiver in want.

They kiss for as long as their breath allows them to, pushing and pulling, like two inevitable forces of attraction bound for each other the moment they met.

Before things get too heated, though, they part for air, nonetheless still heaving at the intensity of their first kiss.

“Wow,” Naruto says out loud, all kinds of breathless. Sasuke agrees. He stares intently to admire those swollen lips on Naruto, memorising the dark shade of pink dusting the other’s scarred cheeks.

Resting their foreheads together, Sasuke can’t help the grin on his own flushed face. He keeps himself standing close and begins to unzip Naruto’s hoodie, teasing, watching Naruto inhale sharply.

“So,” he breathes into Naruto’s space, fingers reaching under the hoodie just enough to feel the smooth spandex, “when is my next swinging lesson, Mr Spiderman?”

Naruto’s initial surprise dissolves into a helpless chuckle. He tightens his hold on Sasuke’s waist and says in kind,

“Hmm, how about now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is it! (well, almost)
> 
> i hope you enjoyed living in this universe as much as i did. 
> 
> Some AU Notes (which I may add on to every now and then):  
> 1\. Naruto’s favourite pizza is Hawaiian. But Sasuke hates pineapples so Naruto always orders BBQ when they share.  
> 2\. Sasuke is actually a foodie. He likes to try different restaurants and cafes. And he really likes Ichiraku, which, of course, is Naruto’s favourite. That’s where they went on their first official date.  
> 3\. Kakashi actually knows Itachi. And Tsunade. Kakashi knows everybody. He even knows Sasuke because he has seen the younger Uchiha at a Judo competition as well.  
> 4\. Think Taka = Muse. I’ve always found that if Sasuke sang, he’d sound like Matt the lead singer.  
> 5\. Suigetsu sleeps around, a lot.  
> 6\. Yes, I asked this before, but have you guessed Sasuke’s high school porn preference, yet? I'm thinking about a side story for this ;)))))  
> 7\. Itachi’s Twitter source about Sasuke is one of the girls.....  
> 8\. Kiba and Gaara FaceTime Naruto a few times during his hospital stay. When they see Sasuke always by his side they know immediately that the two got together.  
> 9\. The twins from Oto are Sakon and Ukon. They were unfortunate Specimens A and B for the spider venom experiment, captured when Oro found out about them becoming informants. 
> 
> hold up, there's an epilogue coming soon!


	7. Epilogue

_Several months later_... 

Sasuke comes out from Taka’s holding room and heads towards the main entrance that leads out of the backstage area. He checks his phone quickly on the way – no messages from Naruto since the last one wishing him all the best for tonight’s concert. Sasuke stands in the busy corridor, scanning up and down. No sight of the blond either. He can’t help but feel a little bit disappointed.

Heading back into the room, Sasuke gives a quick scroll through Twitter and learns that there’s an accident at the ferry terminal – life boats are already out, but some passengers are still trapped in the lower decks.

And, in that instant, he just _knows_. 

It’s finally the night that Taka has been been waiting for. Sasuke can hear the crowds streaming in and screaming for Muse, singing along to the songs that are booming in the arena. Occasionally they hear a Taka track and some screams, but yeah, he knows that the fans are not really here for them.

And that’s okay. Music is something that he has always enjoyed since he was a kid, and he sees himself still playing in the coming years. He is on track to graduate in less than a two years, but, with this level of exposure, who knows what the future might bring.

But for now, it’s okay. He doesn’t want to think too far at this point.

One of the crew members knocks on the door and pokes her head in, just a few minutes after Sasuke arrives back.

“Guys, you’re up in ten!”

By the time they’re huddled at the bottom of the stairs, getting ready to go on stage, Sasuke absolutely can’t stop the jitters. He looks at his bandmates, who look back at him with the same nervous eyes. Sasuke hopes that the stage crew will have stopped any stage fireworks as requested. After the kidnapping ordeal, he’s still getting used to deafening pops that sound all too similar to gunshots.

He’s getting better, though. He knows he is. Therapy does help. Because it’s been more than three months since he stopped waking Naruto up with nightmares.

(Almost five since they had their first kiss.)

“Well guys, it’s now or never,” Suigetsu says, returning Sasuke to the present. His bandmate puts his hand out in the middle, waiting. Not for long, though, because Karin sees the hand and gives Suigetsu a smirk; she follows to put hers on top of his. Juugo goes next, huge hand covering them both, and last but not least, Sasuke joins in with his own.

“To Taka,” Sasuke says. 

“To Taka!”

The moment they step on stage, the crowd roars. The lights are blinding, and Sasuke can hardly see anything from the constant flashes. They do a quick introduction, thanking for the opportunity to open for a band that’s been a huge inspiration since they started, and begin their first song.

By the time it’s their final song, the nerves have long disappeared. The crowd has been wild, welcoming, and Sasuke gets up closer to the mic to say something in closing.

“Thank you again for letting us play here tonight. This is our last song,” he says, “It’s a special one, especially to me. I hope you enjoy it and we hope to see you again.”

He grabs the bottle from the floor and takes a quick swig, listening to the enthusiastic cheers. Just as he replaces the cap, he feels a drip of water on the back of his hand. He wipes it away, not thinking much of it, and nods for Juugo to get ready.

But, another drop comes, this time landing on his arm.

Fingers already poised for the first chords, Sasuke looks up anyway.

To his utmost surprise, he sees Naruto in full Spiderman suit, balancing on one of the horizontal stage trusses, giving him a cheery wave. He’s so well hidden from the crowd behind the curtains that one can only see him from where Sasuke’s standing.

Sasuke is floored for a second, then quickly regains his composure when Juugo starts counting down with the clap of his drum sticks. Sasuke looks out front to where the fans are, still chuckling in disbelief, then starts playing the final song for their opening act.

Immediately after the last note sounds, the stage lights dim and Sasuke looks up again. But Naruto is not there anymore. The crew starts ushering them off, clearing out the stage. And by then, Sasuke is already halfway through unlocking his phone to check for texts. 

**Naruto 20:34**

come to loading bay c!!! 

<3

Sasuke’s heart skips a beat. He pushes through the horde of people back stage, giving a polite greeting to the members of Muse who are just walking past him towards the stage. In a rush, the door to the holding room gets violently slammed open. He winces, but moves to dump his guitar on its rack anyway.

Then he runs.

Despite feeling a little winded, Sasuke doesn’t stop. He keeps his feet moving to the other end of the arena till he finds the place he’s looking for. The area is not one of those used for the concert tonight, evidently from the lack of personnel and vehicles around. Sasuke sees a red door at the end of the side ramp next to the space usually reserved for trucks. He jogs down quickly, clicks the side button to unlock the heavy door while leaning all his weight on it, and exits the building.

Immediately, the cool night breeze touches his face like a gentle caress. Sasuke steps out and bends over, hands on his knees to catch his breath.

Right behind him are nude beige walls, giant letters indicating LOADING BAY C. Still hunched over, he looks up and around, scanning the area, and notices that the surveillance camera in the corner is already blocked with web. But there’s no sign of Naruto.

Sasuke exhales loudly when he finally stands upright, and looks down at his phone to check again.

Then, a silent tap on his left shoulder.

Sasuke grins. He’s not falling for that again.

Instantly, he turns to his right and sees Naruto hanging upside down beside him, droplets of water sliding off the red and blue spandex.

“You made it,” Sasuke breathes. The adrenaline from their performance and all that sprinting is still coursing through his veins.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Plus you know that last song’s my favourite,” Naruto admits, sounding very pleased. “ ‘ _I get lost in your pale blue eyes, singing whispers that I know don’t lie’_. Very romantic indeed _._ ”

Sasuke slaps his shoulder, face burning a little, and Naruto ends up swaying from the push. The latter clicks his tongue in annoyance, but Sasuke knows he’s smiling under his mask too.

“Anyway,” Naruto continues once he stops moving, “I just found this fancy Italian place outside of town. It has that cheese thing you like. Wanna go this weekend?”

“Hm, are we swinging there again?”

“Well…that’s the fastest way to travel, right?” Naruto cocks his head sideways and taps his chin. “Plus, _somebody_ seems to like it when I wrap my strong arms around him.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Spiderman.”

“Please, you know you love it,” Naruto teases, “Anyway, gonna go fight some bad guys first. Talk later at my place?”

Sasuke hums in agreement.

Bidding farewell, Naruto pulls himself up into a midair sit-up. He points his wrist towards the roof of another building, taking aim, when Sasuke suddenly stops him.

“Wait!”

“Hm?” Naruto tilts his head back upside down, waiting expectantly. His face is right in front of Sasuke’s.

Sasuke steps closer to his boyfriend to roll his mask down, baring just enough skin to plant a quick one on Naruto’s lips.

“For good luck,” he says, watching Naruto break into a slow grin.

Before Sasuke can take another step back, fingers thread through his hair, and Naruto pulls him back so that their lips meet again.

This time, Sasuke cradles Naruto’s strong jaw in both hands, breath hitching when his lips get parted by Naruto. Their tongues meet in the middle for the kiss – it's moist, hot and tenderly slow – making Sasuke’s head very light, face too warm. The feeling spreads to his chest and all the way down to his toes, turning his legs jelly weak. 

When they finally part, Naruto smiles and whispers back, a breathless prayer into the night. 

“Yeah, for good luck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, that was a ride. I can’t believe it’s over. 
> 
> I’m really grateful for all the kind comments that had motivated me along the way. I would not say this had been easy, but I learnt a lot from writing it.
> 
> I can’t believe the Naruto manga had ended such a long time ago (in my head, Boruto does not exist) but here we all are, keeping the fandom alive one fic at a time.
> 
> I hope one day I’ll write another story like this, or maybe a few side stories in this universe…? Any ideas you guys might have? Feel free to let me know and maybe, we shall see ;) 
> 
> If you liked this, please leave a kudos or a comment. Or better, both! X


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